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DAVID  ZEISBERGER 


AND 


HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN. 


BY 
REV.  WM.  H.  RICE, 

PASTOR  MORAVIAN  CHURCH,   GNADENHUTTEN,  OHIO. 


Moravian  Publication  Concern, 
Bethlehem,  Pa. 


Copyright,  1897, 

BY 

AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY. 


PREFATORY  NOTE   TO   THE  SECOND 
EDITION. 

THE  first  edition  having  been  sold,  the  Special 
Moravian  Publication  Fund  Committee  of  Bethle- 
hem, Pa.,  has  kindly  approved  a  Second  Edition,  in 
response  to  urgent  calls  for  the  book. 

As  these  lines  are  written,  "The  John  Hecke welder 
Memorial  Moravian  Church,"  erected  by  the  mem- 
bership of  the  Gnadenhutten  Moravian  Church, 
with  the  efficient  aid  of  the  members  and  friends  of 
the  Moravian  Church  in  America,  is  approaching 
completion. 

V!    H.  R. 

GNADENHUTTEN  PARSONAGE, 
Christmas,  1902. 


448943 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


The  preparation  of  these  pages  has  been  interrupted 
by  our  transfer  from  the  Moravian  pastorate  at  New 
Dorp,  on  Staten  Island,  N.  Y.,  to  the  pastorate  at 
Gnadenhutten,  the  historic  region  made  illustrious  for 
all  aftertime  by  the  imperishable  labors  of  Zeisberger 
and  Heckewelder,  and  their  co-laborers. 

It  is  a  special  privilege  to  write  these  lines  in  sight 
of  the  monument  that  marks  the  place  of  the  martyrdom 
of  1782.  w.  H.  R. 

Gnadenhutten  Parsonage,     I 
November  17,  1897.          t 


DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

AND 

HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN. 


"  If  I  have  only  succeeded  with  an  Indian  so  far  as  to  bring 
him  to  the  cross  of  Christ,  I  have  then  been  able  to  lead  him  by  a 
thread  wherever  I  pleased,  and  where  no  one  with  a  whip  could 
have  driven  him,  whilst  in  his  wild  and  unconverted  state." 
DAVID  ZEISBERGER. 

THE  report  was  spread  through  the  city  of  New 
York  on  February  22,  1745,  that  two  spies  had  been 
arrested  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  where  they  had  been 
found  as  guests  in  the  lodge  of  Hendrick,  the  king  of 
the  Mohawk  tribe ;  that  they  had  been  brought  to 
Albany,  and  forwarded  thence,  under  military  guard,  to 
the  capital,  which  they  had  reached  on  that  day,  and 
had  been  committed  to  the  jail  of  the  City  Hall. 

The  report  added  fuel  to  the  excitement  which 
already  filled  the  mind  of  the  authorities  and  of  the 
public  over  the  apprehended  outbreak  of  Indian  hos- 
tilities. 

Men  breathed  more  freely  when  they  knew  the  two 
Moravian  Brethren,  Christian  Frederick  Post  and  David 
Zeisberger,  to  be  safely  in  the  hold  of  the  Government 
of  the  Province  of  New  York. 


6  DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

On  the  next  day  Gov.  Clinton  and  his  august  Coun- 
cil ordered  Zeisberger  to  be  brought  before  them.  He 
was  the  younger  of  the  two  spies,  a  man  of  slight  stat- 
ure, not  yet  twenty-four  years  old. 

"  How  long  have  you  been  in  this  Government  ?" 

"  Since  last  New  Year's  day,  when  we  passed  through 
here." 

"  How  far  did  you  go  into  the  country  ?" 

"As  far  as  Canajoharie." 

"  Who  sent  you  thither  ?" 

"  Our  church." 

"What  church  is  that?" 

"  The  Protestant  Church  of  the  (Moravian)  United 
Brethren." 

"  Do  you  all  do  what  she  commands  you?" 

"  With  our  whole  heart." 

"  But  if  she  should  command  you  to  hang  your- 
selves, or  to  go  among  the  Indians  and  stir  them  up 
against  the  white  people,  would  you  obey  in  this  ?" 

"  No,  I  can  assure  your  Excellency  and  the  whole 
Council  that  our  church  never  had  any  such  designs." 

"What  did  she  command  you  to  do  among  the 
Indians?" 

"  To  learn  their  language." 

"  Can  you  learn  this  language  so  soon  ?" 

"  I  have  already  learned  somewhat  of  it  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  I  went  up  to  improve  myself." 

"  What  use  will  you  make  of  this  language  ?  What 
is  your  design  when  you  have  perfected  yourself  in  it  ? 
You  must  certainly  have  a  reason  for  learning  it" 


AND  HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  7 

"  We  hope  to  get  liberty  to  preach  among  the  Indians 
the  gospel  of  our  crucified  Saviour,  and  to  declare  to 
them  what  we  have  personally  experienced  of  His  grace 
in  our  own  hearts" 

"  Did  you  preach  while  you  were  among  them 
now?" 

"  No,  I  had.  no  design  to  preach,  but  only  to  learn 
their  language.' ' 

"  You  will  give  an  account  to  your  church  when 
you  go  home  [Bethlehem,  Northampton  County,  Penn- 
sylvania] of  the  condition  of  the  country  and  of  the 
land?" 

"  I  will.  Why  should  I  not  ?  But  we  do  not  con- 
cern ourselves  about  the  land ;  we  have  land  enough  of 
our  own — we  do  not  need  that." 

"  You  observed  how  many  cannon  were  in  the  Fort 
[William's],  how  many  soldiers  and  Indians  in  the  cas- 
tle, and  how  many  at  Canajoharie  ?" 

"  I  was  not  so  much  as  within  the  Fort,  and  I  did 
not  count  the  soldiers  or  the  Indians." 

"  Whom  do  you  acknowledge  for  your  king  ?" 

"  King  George  of  England." 

"  But  when  you  go  up  among  the  French  Indians, 
who  is  your  king  then  ?" 

"  I  never  yet  had  any  mind  to  go  thither." 

"  Will  you  and  your  companion  swear  to  be  faithful 
subjects  of  King  George,  acknowledge  him  as  your 
sovereign,  and  abjure  the  Pope  and  his  adherents  ?" 

"We  own  ourselves  to  be  King  George's  faithful 
subjects ;  we  acknowledge  him  as  our  sovereign ;  we 


DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

can  truly  certify  that  we  have  no  connection  at  all  with 
the  Pope  and  his  adherents,  and  no  one  who  knows 
anything  of  us  can  lay  this  to  our  charge.  With  regard 
to  the  oath,  however,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  we  are 
not  inhabitants  of  this  Government  (colony),  but  trav- 
ellers, and  hope  to  enjoy  the  same  privilege  which  is 
granted  in  other  English  colonies,  of  travelling  unmo- 
lested without  taking  the  oath." 

"  You  design  to  teach  the  Indians,  and  we  must 
have  the  assurance  that  you  will  not  teach  them  disaf- 
fection to  the  king." 

"  But  we  have  come,  at  this  time,  with  no  design  to 
teach." 

"  Our  laws  require  that  all  travellers  in  this  Govern- 
ment shall  swear  allegiance  to  the  king  and  have  a 
li cense  from  the  governor." 

"  I  never  bef^  e  heard  of  such  a  law  in  any  country 
or  kingdom  of  the  world." 

"  Will  you  or  will  you  not  take  the  oath  ?" 

"  I  will  not." 

The  clerk  of  the  court  then  read  to  the  prisoner  the 
recent  enactment  of  the  New  York  Colonial  Assembly 
against  "  Every  Vagrant  Preacher,  Moravian,  Disguised 
Papist,  or  any  other  person  presuming  to  reside  among 
and  teach  the  Indians  "  without  having  taken  the  oath 
of  allegiance  and  secured  the  governor's  license.  Every 
such  an  one  "  shall  be  treated  as  a  person  taking  upon 
him  to  seduce  the  Indians  from  his  Majesty's  interest," 
and  shall  be  punished  with  fine  and  imprisonment. 

"  Do  you  understand  this  ?" 


MICHAEL,  THE  SHEKOMEKO  ELDER. 


I0  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

"  Most  of  it,  but  not  all." 

"  Will  you  take  the  oath  now  ?" 

"  I  hope  the  honorable  Council  will  not  force  me  to 
do  it." 

"  We  will  not  constrain  you ;  you  may  let  it  alone 
if  it  is  against  your  conscience ;  but  you  will  have  to  go 
to  prison  again." 

"  I  am  content." 

After  his  companion,  the  intrepid  Post,  had  under- 
gone a  similar  examination,  there  followed  seven  weeks 
of  imprisonment.  During  this  time  they  were  cheered 
in  their  prison  life  by  visits  from  their  fellow-Moravians, 
Thomas  Noble,  a  godly  merchant  of  the  city,  and  his 
young  clerk,  Henry  Van  Vleck,  and  by  Rev.  Peter 
Boehler  (John  Wesley's  friend).  Christian  people  of 
other  denominations  visited  them  in  prison  who  were 
not  in  sympathy  with  the  enemies  of  the  missionary 
work  which  the  Moravian  Brethren  had  been  carrying 
on  for  the  past  five  years,  with  marked  success,  in  the 
border  counties  of  the  provinces  of  Connecticut  and 
New  York — the  present  counties  of  Dutchess  and  Litch- 
field. 

The  signal  triumph  which  had  attended  the  preach- 
ing, by  Christian  Henry  Rauch,  of  the  word  of  the 
cross  to  the  Indians  of  Shekomeko  in  Dutchess  Coun- 
ty, the  conversion  of  their  Chief  Job  (sometimes  written 
Tschoop),  a  drunken  profligate,  and  the  conversion  to 
Christ  of  many  of  his  fellow- Indians,  had  awakened  the 
bitter  hostility  of  the  white  neighbors  who  traded  upon 
the  vices  of  the  red  men,  especially  by  the  sale  of  rum. 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  II 

Advantage  was  taken  of  the  public  alarm  as  to  impend- 
ing Indian  hostilities,  and  the  apprehended  plottings  of 
Jesuit  missionaries,  to  excite  public  sentiment  against 
the  work  of  the  Moravian  missionaries. 

During  the  session  of  the  New  York  Colonial  As- 
sembly in  the  preceding  fall  this  sentiment  had  found 
expression  in  the  enactment  of  a  law  which  placed  Mo- 
ravians in  the  same  category  with  Jesuits,  who  were  said 
to  be  preparing  the  Indians  for  a  general  massacre  of 
the  English  colonists. 

Gov.  Clinton,  when  ordered  by  the  Board  of  Trade 
in  London  to  state  the  reasons  why  a  law  had  been 
passed  against  the  Moravian  missionaries  residing 
among  the  Indians,  described  the  Moravians  as  "  Sim- 
ple illiterate  persons  infatuated  with  a  certain  degree  of 
Enthusiasm  or  Folly,  Sufficient  for  Qualifying  them  for 
the  plantation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  "  though 
unqualified  as  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Indian  language 
or  any  other  but  their  own  Mother-tongue." 

The  persecution  of  these  Moravian  missionaries  by 
the  government  and  people  of  the  New  York  and  Con- 
necticut colonies  led  to  the  parliamentary  enactment  in 
England,  of  March  12,  1749,  formally  acknowledging 
their  church,  exempting  them  from  taking  the  oath, 
allowing  simple  affirmation,  and  excusing  them  from 
military  and  jury  duty. 

Meanwhile  the  success  which  had  attended  the  first 
preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  Indians  of  Shekomeko 
stimulated  the  Foreign  Missionary  Board  of  the  recently 
established  congregation  at  Bethlehem  to  plan  for  a 


12  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

vigorous  prosecution  of  the  work  in  the  large  field  that 
seemed  to  lie  open  before  them. 

Within  three  years  after  the  first  settlement  of  Beth- 
lehem, in  February,  1744,  a  class  of  candidates  for 
the  Indian  mission  was  formed  under  the  tutelage  of 
Rev.  John  C.  Pyrlaeus,  a  recent  graduate  of  Leipsic 
University.  He  had  come  from  Germany  eager  to 
help  the  work  begun  by  Rauch  at  Shekomeko  in  1740. 
After  his  marriage  in  Philadelphia  to  Susan,  youngest 
daughter  of  the  merchant  John  Stephen  Benezet,  Pyr- 
laeus had  spent  a  summer  in  the  log  cabin  of  a  German 
settler  in  the  Mohawk  County,  with  his  youthful  bride, 
to  learn  the  Mohawk  language.  Of  the  young  men 
constituting  this  class,  Pyrlaeus  soon  found  the  aptest 
linguist  to  be  David  Zeisberger. 

Zeisberger  followed  his  parents  to  America  in  1737, 
when  but  a  youth  of  sixteen.  David  and  Rosina  Zeis- 
berger had  left  their  home  and  kindred  in  Austrian 
Moravia  for  conscience'  sake.  One  night  in  July,  1726, 
taking  their  five-year-old  David  by  the  hand,  father 
and  mother  left  their  house  and  farm  with  all  their  be- 
longings and  fled  to  the  mountain  border  which  sep- 
arates Moravia  from  Saxony.  They  sought  a  refuge  at 
Herrnhut,  the  newly  founded  settlement  of  the  exiled 
descendants  of  the  old  Moravian  and  Bohemian  Breth- 
ren's Church.  Ten  years  later,  1736,  they  joined  a 
party  of  Herrnhut  colonists,  who  went  to  Georgia  and 
founded  a  colony  near  the  present  site  of  Savannah. 

The  child  David  was  left  behind,  a  schoolboy  at 
Herrnhut,  to  finish  his  studies.  He  was  the  brightest 


AND  HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  13 

Latin  scholar  of  his  class,  a  diligent  student  who  showed 
a  natural  facility  for  acquiring  languages. 

Soon  after  his  parents  had  left  for  America,  David 
was  sent  to  Holland,  to  a  new  church  settlement  near 
Utrecht,  to  be  an  errand  boy.  The  quick-witted  lad 
soon  acquired  the  use  of  the  Dutch  language.  He  was 
distinguished  by  his  alert,  cheerful  ways  and  the  punc- 
tuality with  which  he  attended  to  all  his  duties.  He 
soon  became  a  favorite  with  all  except  his  immediate 
superiors.  They  deemed  it  their  duty  to  stem  the  nat- 
ural outflow  of  the  bright  lad's  disposition.  When 
falsely  accused,  upon  occasion,  of  an  act  of  theft,  David 
was  mercilessly  beaten  with  the  rod. 

For  having  won  the  good-will  of  a  gentleman  visit- 
ing Heerendyke — whom  David  was  directed  to  accom- 
pany as  a  guide  to  the  neighboring  Ysselstein,  and  who 
at  parting  from  the  lad  insisted  upon  his  accepting  a 
handful  of  silver  coins  as  a  reward  for  his  very  satisfac- 
tory services,  the  lad  was  accused  on  his  return  home 
of  having  stolen  the  money,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
incredible  that  any  one  would  pay  a  mere  boy  so  lib- 
eral a  reward.  In  spite  of  his  protestations  he  was  to 
receive  due  punishment  for  his  suspected  dishonesty. 
This  act  of  injustice  finally  decided  the  boy  to  leave  his 
employers. 

After  secret  preparation  for  his  departure,  having 
secured  as  a  companion  one  of  the  other  lads  of  the 
establishment,  named  Schober,  he  left  Heerendyke. 
The  fixed  determination  of  Zeisberger  to  join  his  pa- 
rents, who  had  gone  to  America  the  year  before,  de- 


14  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

cided  Schober  to  change  his  plan  of  a  return  to  Sax- 
ony. The  two  lads  made  their  way  to  London,  where 
Zeisberger  quickly  made  himself  friends  who  introduced 
him  to  Gen.  Oglethorpe  as  a  youth  desirous  of  joining 
the  Moravian  colonists  in  Georgia.  Furnishing  them 
with  clothing  and  money,  he  forwarded  the  youthful 
immigrants  by  a  ship  just  ready  to  sail. 

David's  unexpected  arrival  was  a  great  joy  to  his 
parents  in  their  wilderness  home.  He  had  almost  grown 
out  of  their  recollection,  so  that  they  barely  recognized 
their  son  when  he  first  stood  before  them.  He  ar- 
rived in  August,  1737.  Born  April  n,  1721,  he  was  a 
little  more  than  sixteen  years  old. 

It  was  a  great  change  in  his  surroundings  which 
was  wrought  by  the  sudden  transition  from  the  soft 
luxuries  of  European  civilized  life  to  the  hard  privations 
of  a  settlement  in  the  primeval  forests  of  America.  But 
it  fell  in  with  the  free  spirit  of  the  determined  youth. 
It  was  a  providential  preparation  in  the  school  of  fron- 
tier life  for  the  calling  to  which  Providence  had  des- 
tined Zeisberger. 

In  reference  to  this  period  in  his  early  life  it  is 
pleasant  to  hear  him  say  in  after  years,  as  he  casts  a 
backward  glance  upon  the  way  by  which  the  Lord  led 
him,  "  From  the  day  I  left  Heerendyke  to  the  time  of 
my  arrival  in  Georgia  the  Lord  preserved  me  from  all 
harm  to  body  or  soul  in  the  face  of  great  temptations 
into  which  I  might  have  fallen.  He  held  his  hand  over 
me.  I  often  thank  him  for  his  protecting  care  amid  the 
dangers  which  then  I  did  not  realize.  In  all  those  expe- 


AND  HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  15 

riences  I  now  see  the  guidance  of  the  Lord's  good 
hand." 

One  feature  in  his  life  in  Georgia  was  the  intimate 
association  into  which  it  brought  him  with  the  devoted 
leader  of  the  colony,  the  apostolic  Peter  Boehler,  who 
had  come  to  this  church  colony  fresh  from  his  blessed 
intercourse  and  fellowship  with  the  Wesleys  at  Oxford 
and  in  London. 

The  formative  years  of  the  boy's  mental  and  physi- 
cal constitution,  from  sixteen  to  twenty-two,  were  thus 
spent  in  outdoor  life,  amid  the  trials  and  privations  of 
an  early  settler's  home.  In  less  than  three  years  he  left 
Georgia  with  the  rest  of  the  Moravian  colonists,  for 
Eastern  Pennsylvania,  landing  at  Philadelphia  in  April, 
1740.  He  did  his  share  of  the  hard  work  incident  to 
the  clearing  of  the  land  and  the  building  of  the  first 
houses  on  the  Whitefield  tract,  and  in  connection  with 
the  beginning  of  the  Bethlehem  settlement  in  1741.  In 
this  school  of  rough  experience  was  developed  and 
strengthened  that  intrepid  will  which  "  no  wilderness, 
however  tangled,  could  keep  from  the  Indians,  and  no 
peril,  however  imminent,  could  keep  from  duty." 

In  January,  1743,  when  Zinzendorf  was  about  to 
return  to  Germany  after  his  fourteen  months'  stay  in 
Pennsylvania,  David  Zeisberger  was  notified  by  the 
Elders  of  the  church  that  it  had  been  determined  to  send 
him  back  to  Europe.  As  the  ship  "  James,"  on  which 
the  company  was  to  sail  from  New  York,  was  about  to 
cast  off  its  lines,  Bishop  Nitschmann,  Zeisberger's  coun- 
tryman and  namesake,  came  up  to  say  good-by  to  Da- 


1 6  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

vid.  He  noticed  the  young  man's  downcast  look  and 
made  inquiry,  "  Are  you  glad  to  go  back  to  Europe  ?" 

"  No !  I  am  not !  I  would  much  prefer  to  remain  in 
America.  I  long  to  be  thoroughly  converted  to  Christ 
and  to  serve  as  a  missionary  to  the  Indians  in  this 
country." 

Surprised,  and  no  doubt  delighted,  Nitschmann  said, 

"  Then,  if  I  were  you,  I  'd  at  once  go  back  to  Beth- 
lehem !" 

Without  another  word  Zeisberger  jumped  ashore, 
saved  a  second  time  to  the  work  for  which  he  was  des- 
tined. 

He  returned  to  Bethlehem  in  a  state  of  deep  spir- 
itual concern  and  of  longing  for  the  assurance  of  the 
pardon  of  his  sins.  Brother  Biittner,  whose  work 
among  the  Indians  of  the  Shekomeko  Mission  had  been 
so  abundantly  blessed  of  God  to  the  conversion  of  souls, 
was  on  a  visit  to  Bethlehem  about  this  time.  The  en- 
couragement which  Zeisberger  received  from  a  search- 
ing and  tender  interview  with  Biittner,  only  four  years 
his  senior,  greatly  forwarded  the  seeker  on  his  way  to- 
wards the  light.  Some  days  thereafter,  during  the 
singing  by  a  company  of  young  men  in  the  Single 
Brethren's  house  at  Bethlehem  of  a  familiar  hymn  of 
praise  to  Jesus,  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  a  great  light 
came  into  his  soul,  and  Zeisberger  realized  the  joy  of 
thorough  conversion  in  the  assurance  that  his  Saviour 
had  taken  all  his  sins  away.  He  spent  all  that  day  in 
tearful  ascription  of  joyous  praise  and  thanksgiving  to 
his  Redeemer. 


AND  HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  17 

From  that  day  forth  Zeisberger  consecrated  him- 
self, body,  soul,  and  spirit,  to  his  Saviour's  service. 
And  now  this  bright,  resolute,  active  young  man,  thor- 
oughly consecrated  to  the  service  of  his  newly  found 
Redeemer,  gave  in  his  name  to  the  Elders  as  a  candi- 
date for  mission  service  among  the  Indians. 

As  such  we  find  him,  in  February,  1744,  at  the  head 
of  the  class  of  young  missionary  candidates  whom  Pyr- 
laeus  was  instructing  in  the  language  of  the  Mohawk 
Indians,  one  of  the  Six  Nations  of  the  great  Iroquois 
Confederacy.  For  several  years  he  had  been  exerting 
his  natural  gift  in  the  acquisition  of  the  Delaware  In- 
dian language,  by  intercourse  with  the  Indians  who 
visited  Bethlehem.  So  rapid  was  his  progress  in  this 
labor  of  love  that  he  soon  came  to  act  as  official  inter- 
preter for  the  civil  authorities  of  the  neighborhood,  as 
well  as  for  the  Elders  of  the  church. 

Zeisberger's  first  appointment  upon  any  mission 
into  the  Indian  country  was  that  which  took  him  into 
the  Mohawk  Valley,  as  the  companion  of  the  illustrious 
Christian  Frederick  Post,  with  a  view  to  perfecting 
himself  in  that  language  in  which  Pyrlaeus,  the  Leipsic 
graduate,  had  already  given  him  considerable  instruc- 
tion. It  was  on  this  journey  that  the  youthful  mission- 
ary enthusiast  was  arrested,  and  after  having  been  sub- 
jected to  shameless  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  offi- 
cials, suffered  seven  weeks'  imprisonment  in  New 
York  city,  being  at  last  set  free  as  a  vagrant  Moravian 
preacher. 

These  experiences  only  served  to  bring  out  the  fine 


1 8  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

grain  of  the  texture  of  this  resolute  and  consecrated 
spirit.  He  was  learning  the  lesson  of  intrepid  obedi- 
ence to  his  Master's  guidance,  and  of  absolute  depend- 
ence upon  Him  amid  appalling  dangers  and  grievous 
deprivations.  The  Rev.  John  Heckewelder  (his  illus- 
trious associate  in  the  care  of  the  Indian  church,  some 
twenty  years  his  junior),  says  of  him  in  his  Manuscript 
Biography  of  Zeisberger,  that  to  the  end,  through  all 
the  subsequent  sixty  years  of  heroic  missionary  service, 
in  the  wilderness  of  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Ohio,  and 
Canada,  he  bore  himself  with  unflinching  steadfastness 
and  unchallenged  consistency  as  a  humble,  joyous  ser- 
vant of  the  crucified  Jesus,  gaining  many  rich  trophies  for 
the  Master  among  the  aborigines  of  the  land.  He  called 
the  converts  his  "  brown  Brethren."  For  their  conver- 
sion he  spent  more  than  sixty  years  of  toilsome  mission- 
ary service,  equalled  by  few  laborers  in  the  annals  of 
Christ's  kingdom  and  surpassed  by  none. 

Zeisberger  was  ordained  to  the  gospel  ministry  in 
1749.  During  the  four  years  which  intervened  since 
his  first  journey  to  the  Mohawk  Valley  he  was  the 
companion  of  Bishop  Spangenberg,  Mack,  and  Watte- 
ville,  in  longer  and  shorter  journeys  of  exploration  of 
the  wilderness.  With  Spangenberg  he  paid  his  first 
visit  to  Onondaga,  the  capital  of  the  Iroquois  Confed- 
eracy in  what  is  now  Onondaga  County,  New  York. 
Their  journey  from  Bethlehem,  in  Eastern  Pennsylva- 
nia, led  them  through  the  very  sparsely  settled  regions 
of  Central  Pennsylvania,  as  far  as  Shamokin,  on  the  Sus- 
quehanna — the  present  town  of  Sunbury  in  Westmore- 


AND   HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  19 

land  County.  Thence  they  made  their  perilous  way 
through  the  wild  region  which  now  constitutes  the 
counties  of  Lycoming  and  Tioga,  and  crossed  the  New 
York  line  into  what  are  now  the  counties  of  Tompkins, 
Cayuga,  and  Onondaga.  Their  way  is  described  as 
leading  them  through  forests  in  many  parts  impen- 
etrable to  the  sun,  with  thick  undergrowth  entangling 
the  travellers  on  every  side,  the  ground,  for  miles,  a 
morass  into  which  the  horses  sank  up  to  their  knees ; 
tall  trees,  uprooted  by  the  storm,  were  often  found  lying 
across  the  trail.  They  nearly  perished  with  hunger, 
their  provisions  having  given  out,  and  their  almost 
miraculous  deliverance  from  death  by  starvation  is 
recorded. 

During  their  stay  at  the  Iroquois  capital  Zeisberger 
was  "adopted"  into  the  tribe  of  the  Onondagas  and 
the  Clan  of  the  Turtle ;  he  received  the  Indian  name 
Ganousseracheri  (On  the  Pumpkin). 

On  his  tour  with  Mack  along  the  upper  branches  of 
the  Susquehanna  they  came  upon  deserted  Indian  vil- 
lages that  had  been  depopulated  by  the  small  -  pox 
scourge. 

In  the  laying  out  of  Gnadenhuetten  (Tents  of  Grace), 
a  village  settlement  planned  by  the  Bethlehem  Mission 
Board  for  the  accommodation  of  the  exiled  Indians  of 
Shekomeko,  Zeisberger  took  an  active  part.  The  site 
of  this  Christian  Indian  village  was  fixed  at  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  Mahoning  Creek  and  Lehigh  River,  in  what 
is  now  Carbon  County,  on  a  tract  of  land  of  about  1,400 
acres,  purchased  by  the  Board.  The  town  lay  on  the 


20  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

declivity  of  a  hill  upon  whose  gently  rising  slope  the 
houses  of  the  Indian  converts  were  built,  along  three 
streets,  arranged  in  the  form  of  parallel  arcs.  A  fourth 
street  bisected  these  arcs  ;  in  the  middle  of  this  street 
stood  the  church  and  parsonage.  The  farm-buildings, 
with  grist  and  saw-mills,  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  hill, 
which  was  crowned  by  the  God's  acre,  the  burial-place  of 
their  dead.  In  December,  1754,  the  flourishing  com- 
munity of  Christian  Indians — an  oasis  in  the  desert — 
numbered  137  Mohican  and  Delaware  communicants, 
besides  86  converts  residing  in  the  outlying  districts. 
In  November,  1755,  it  was  destroyed  by  a  band  of 
hostile  Indians  who  massacred  most  of  the  missionary 
brethren  and  sisters  in  charge,  drove  away  the  converts, 
and  burned  the  settlement.  David  Zeisberger  made  a 
hairbreadth  escape  from  being  massacred. 

After  his  ordination  in  1749,  Zeisberger  was  sta- 
tioned at  Shamokin,  on  the  Susquehanna.  Here  he 
began  the  preparation  of  an  Iroquois  dictionary,  for  he 
had  acquired  by  this  time  great  fluency  in  the  use  of 
the  Mohawk  language.  The  future  of  missionary  oper- 
ations among  the  Indians  seemed  very  promising, 
immediately  after  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1748, 
and  this  quickened  the  ardor  of  the  Bethlehem  Mission 
Board  in  the  endeavor  to  push  forward  their  missionary 
operations. 

In  1750  Zeisberger  was  again  sent  to  visit  the  Iro- 
quois capital,  in  company  with  Bishop  Cammerhof. 
They  took  a  new  route,  planned  by  Zeisberger.  They 
started  from  Wyoming,  on  the  eastern  branch  of  the 


GNADENHUTTEN    ON    THE    MAHONING,  PA. 


AND  HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  21 

Susquehanna,  proposing  to  ascend  the  river  in  a  canoe 
built  by  Zeisberger.  A  Cayuga  chief,  Hahotschuan- 
quas,  acted  as  their  guide,  and  with  his  wife  Gajahene, 
their  boy  Tagita,  a  lad  of  fourteen,  and  Gahaca,  their 
little  four-year-old  daughter,  accompanied  the  two  mis- 
sionaries, in  his  own  canoe.  For  ten  days  they  pad- 
dled their  canoes  against  the  current  of  the  winding 
river.  At  night,  tying  up  to  the  shore,  they  slept  in 
the  shelter  of  hastily-constructed  bark  tents. 

At  one  point  in  their  inland  voyage  they  came  upon 
a  settlement  of  Indians,  among  whom  they  met  some 
of  their  Indian  converts.  To  the  consistent  steadfast- 
ness of  these  Indian  Christians  their  heathen  comrades 
bore  testimony  by  their  indignant  inquiry,  "  What  have 
you  done  to  our  brothers  that  they  are  so  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  us  and  from  what  they  once  were  ?  What 
is  this  baptism  which  has  made  them  turn  from  our 
feasts  and  dances  and  shun  all  our  ways  ?" 

At  Tioga,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Chemung  River 
with  the  Susquehanna,  they  turned  their  canoes  into 
the  former  river.  Soon  thereafter  they  took  up  the 
overland  trail  through  Tompkins  County  to  the  lower 
end  of  Cayuga  Lake,  and  thence  to  Onondaga,  where 
they  were  welcomed  to  the  Grand  Council  House  and 
received  with  marked  distinction.  Their  further  nego- 
tiations with  the  Grand  Council  for  a  treaty  allowing 
two  or  three  missionary  brethren  to  take  up  their  resi- 
dence at  Onondaga,  in  order  to  learn  the  language  and 
customs  of  the  Iroquois,  were  delayed  by  the  circum- 
stance that  the  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Council 


22  DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

were  too  much  under  the  influence  of  rum.  During 
the  interval  the  two  missionary  envoys  paid  a  brief 
visit  to  the  capital  of  the  Seneca  tribe,  a  village  of  forty 
large  huts,  in  what  is  now  Livingston  County,  beauti- 
fully situated,  and  rarely  visited  by  any  white  man  other 
than  the  traders.  Here  too  they  found  the  Indians, 
men  and  women,  under  the  influence  of  rum,  and  our 
two  brethren  barely  escaped  with  their  lives  from  the 
drunken  fury  of  the  frenzied  braves  and  squaws,  who 
would  insist  upon  their  taking  part  in  their  hideous  ex- 
cesses. But  the  Lord's  hand  was  over  them.  On  their 
escape  under  cover  of  a  thick  fog  from  Seneca  town, 
they  reached  Onondaga,  where  they  resumed  their  ne- 
gotiations, and  secured  a  treaty  arrangement  permitting 
two  resident  missionaries  to  be  sent  to  the  capital  to 
learn  the  language. 

Returning  to  Bethlehem  in  August  of  that  year, 
1750,  Zeisberger  was  commissioned  to  visit  Herrnhut, 
in  Germany.  He  returned  from  this  voyage  across  the 
sea  in  September  of  the  following  year,  to  resume  his 
missionary  labors  among  the  Indians  with  renewed  de- 
termination and  zeal.  He  preached  in  the  lodges  of 
the  Indian  converts  in  the  region  extending  from  Wyo- 
ming to  Shamokin,  which  latter  post  he  again  occupied 
as  his  permanent  headquarters.  In  a  letter  to  the  Mis- 
sion Board  at  Bethlehem,  dated  February  28,  1752, 
he  writes :  "  I  rejoice  to  hear  of  the  awakening 
among  the  Indians  at  Gnadenhuetten  on  the  Maho- 
ning ;  but  I  shall  rejoice  still  more  when  a  church  of 
believers  like  that  has  been  established  among  the  Iro- 


AND  HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  23 

quois.  I  will  not  be  satisfied  until  this  is  accom- 
plished. I  am  on  their  side.  Who  knows  what  the 
Lord  will  do !" 

Zeisberger  was  now  appointed  to  take  up  his  resi- 
dence at  the  Iroquois  capital,  to  perfect  himself  in  the 
Mohawk  language  and  dialects,  and  to  gain  a  more 
thorough  knowledge  of  their  usages.  He  was  to  be 
"  nationalized  "  among  them,  so  that  he  might  preach 
the  gospel  to  them  as  a  brother  in  name  and  in  fact. 
His  companion  was  Rundt.  Onondaga  was  reached  in 
one  month  after  leaving  Bethlehem.  They  travelled  by 
way  of  New  York  city,  Albany,  and  the  Mohawk  Val- 
ley. To  the  message  of  the  Bethlehem  Mission  Board, 
of  which  Zeisberger  and  his  assistant  were  the  bearers, 
the  Council  said,  "  We  are  well  pleased  that  you  have 
sent  Brother  Ganousseracheri  and  the  brother  whose 
name  we  cannot  name,  in  order  to  learn  our  language. 
We  believe  that  this  is  a  good  work.  It  shall  be  as 
you  desire.  All  the  chiefs  of  the  Iroquois  are  so  minded. 
These  two  brothers  shall  live  some  years  among 
us  and  learn  our  tongue,  that  we  may  tell  one  an- 
other the  thoughts  of  our  hearts.  They  may  begin 
here  at  Onondaga ;  they  may  then  go  to  the  Cayugas, 
and  next  to  the  Senecas." 

Zeisberger  with  his  assistant  took  up  his  abode  in 
the  lodge  which  was  formally  assigned  to  them  by  the 
Council.  During  their  stay  here  the  manner  of  the  In- 
dians' daily  life  became  an  object  of  familiar  inspection. 
Zeisberger  was  afforded  every  opportunity  to  learn  the 
mode  and  the  significance  of  the  interchange  of  belts  of 


24  DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

wampum.  He  learned  too  the  painful  facts  of  the  moral 
degradation  of  the  Indians,  especially  in  respect  to 
drunkenness  and  licentiousness  and  murderous  cruelty. 
He  devoted  himself  to  a  diligent  study  of  their  language 
with  a  view  to  the  completion  of  his  dictionary. 

On  the  occasion  of  a  friendly  visit  to  the  neighbor- 
ing Cayugas,  Zeisberger  was  almost  killed  in  a  murder- 
ous attack  upon  him  by  a  Dutch  trader.  He  returned 
to  Bethlehem  in  the  late  fall. 

He  spent  the  following  year,  from  spring  to  autumn, 
at  Onondaga,  with  Henry  Frey  as  his  assistant.  He 
acquired  a  complete  mastery  of  the  Mohawk  tongue 
and  spoke  fluently  several  of  the  dialects. 

In  the  fall  of  1754  Zeisberger  paid  his  fifth  and 
his  last  visit  but  one  to  the  capital  of  the  Iroquois. 
He,  with  Charles  Frederick  as  his  assistant,  proceeded 
to  erect  a  substantial  mission-house,  with  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  permanent  church  at  Onondaga.  In  this 
he  was  seconded  by  the  good  wishes  of  his  Iroquois 
friends.  The  Grand  Council  gave  him  a  most  distin- 
guished proof  of  their  implicit  trust  and  confidence  in 
him  and  his  mission,  by  depositing  in  the  Mission-house 
the  Council's  entire  archives,  comprising  many  belts 
and  strings  of  wampum,  written  treaties,  letters  from 
colonial  governors,  and  other  similar  documents.  Zeis- 
berger was  appointed  Keeper  of  the  Archives  of  the 
Grand  Council. 

His  return  to  Bethlehem,  on  a  short  visit,  in  June, 
1755,  marks  the  close  of  Zeisberger's  missionary  activ- 
ity among  the  Six  Nations.  The  breaking  out  of  the 


AND  HIS  BROWN   BRETHREN.  25 

"  French  and  Indian  War  "  put  an  end  to  the  promis- 
ing work  of  evangelization  which  he  had  been  permitted 
to  begin  at  Onondaga  as  a  centre.  When,  after  an  in- 
terval of  comparative  inactivity  on  account  of  the  war, 
he  resumed  his  life-work  as  a  missionary  among  the 
Indians,  he  took  up  his  work  among  the  Delaware  In- 
dians of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  As  a  proof,  however, 
that  the  zeal  of  the  Mission  Board  at  Bethlehem  was 
unabated,  on  the  very  eve  of  the  outbreak  of  Indian 
hostilities,  the  fact  is  cited  that  a  Missionary  Conference 
was  held  at  Bethlehem  (after  the  defeat  of  the  English 
under  Braddock  at  Fort  Duquesne  in  July,  and  just 
about  the  time,  in  September,  of  the  defeat  of  the 
French,  under  Dieskau,  near  Lake  George),  which  was 
attended  by  sixteen  missionary  brethren  and  eighteen 
missionary  sisters,  who  made  hopeful  reports  of  their 
operations.  But  war  in  all  its  horrors  put  an  end,  for 
seven  years,  to  active  missionary  operations  in  their 
chosen  field,  in  which  the  Lord  had  blessed  them  with 
many  gracious  ingatherings  of  souls. 

Seven  years  of  war  were  seven  years  of  enforced 
cessation  from  active  gospel  work  among  the  Indians. 
Zeisberger  was  frequently  employed  to  facilitate  the 
establishment  of  peace  relations,  by  treaty,  with  the 
various  Indian  nations. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  hostilities,  in  May,  1763, 
Zeisberger  gave  joyous  and  eager  response  to  a  call 
which  came  to  him  from  the  Indian  settlement  of 
Machiwihilusing  (in  what  is  now  Bradford  County, 
Pennsylvania,  some  two  miles  below  the  present  Wya- 


26  DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

lusing,  on  the  Susquehanna)  to  preach  to  them. 
Afoot,  with  Anthony,  a  Delaware  Indian  convert,  as  his 
companion,  Zeisberger  left  Bethlehem  to  resume  once 
again  his  apostolic  life-work.  For  two  days,  amid 
drenching  rain,  in  the  pathless  forests  and  swamps  of 
the  Broad  Mountain,  in  what  is  now  Monroe  County, 
these  two  messengers  of  Jesus  crept  for  miles  on  hands 
and  feet,  beneath  and  between  laurel -bushes  whose 
tangled  mazes  made  walking  impossible.  Their  only 
guide  was  a  pocket-compass.  After  two  days  they 
struck  the  trail  to  Wyoming.  They  reached  Machi- 
wihilusing  after  more  than  seven  days,  on  the  evening 
of  May  23.  Although  thoroughly  exhausted  by  the 
toil  of  the  journey,  Zeisberger  at  once  began  to  preach 
the  gospel.  "  The  Indians  flocked  from  every  side  "  to 
hear  his  blessed  message.  Next  morning,  after  a  short 
night-rest,  the  work  was  resumed,  and  for  three  days 
he  preached  Christ  with  great  power.  A  deep  impres- 
sion was  made  upon  the  hearts  of  his  hearers.  Tears 
rolled  down  their  cheeks  and  their  whole  frames  were 
convulsed  with  emotion  as  they  listened  to  the  preached 
word.  The  Mission  Board  appointed  him  as  resident 
missionary,  at  the  request  of  the  Indians  of  Machiwihi- 
lusing.  Once  again  he  was  in  his  element,  preaching 
to  his  beloved  Indians,  calling  them  to  repentance  and 
explaining  to  them  free  grace  in  Christ  Jesus.  He 
taught  the  converts  to  sing  the  hymns  which  he  transla- 
ted into  their  native  Delaware  Indian  tongue. 

The  visiting  Quaker  evangelist,   John   Woolman, 
attended  his  services  and  prayed  that  "  the  great  work  " 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  27 

which  Zeisberger  had  undertaken  might  be  crowned 
with  success.  One  day  their  foremost  "  prophet,"  Pa- 
punhank,  who  had  been  converted  by  Zeisberger's 
preaching,  was  to  be  baptized.  All  the  town  came  to- 
gether in  solemn  assembly.  After  singing  a  hymn  in 
the  Delaware  language,  he  preached  on  Baptism.  He 
then  examined  Papunhank,  the  candidate  for  bap- 
tism, as  to  his  faith  and  experience.  After  answering 
the  questions  addressed  to  him,  Papunhank  added  this 
voluntary  confession :  "  The  Saviour  has  made  me  feel 
my  misery  and  my  utterly  depraved  state.  I  used  to 
preach  to  you  ;  I  imagined  myself  a  good  man ;  I  did 
not  know  that  I  was  the  greatest  sinner  among  you  all. 
Brothers,  forgive  and  forget  everything  I  have  said  or 
done."  The  "  prophet "  was  then  baptized  by  Zeis- 
berger, receiving  the  name  John.  Rev.  John  Hecke- 
welder,  in  his  Manuscript  Biographical  sketch,  says, 
"  Had  Zeisberger  inherited  a  kingdom,  his  joy  would 
not  have  been  as  great  as  it  was  over  the  conversion  of 
the  Indian  '  prophet,'  the  first  one  whom  he  brought 
into  the  church  of  Christ."  At  an  afternoon  service  of 
the  same  day  a  second  Indian  convert  was  baptized, 
receiving  the  name  Peter.  Thereupon  Zeisberger  joy- 
fully exclaimed,  "  Now  my  heart  is  light ;  before  it  was 
heavy,  so  heavy  that  I  could  scarcely  endure  it !"  An 
awakening  in  a  neighboring  Indian  town  engaged  his 
labors  for  the  next  three  days.  But  the  outbreak  of 
Pontiac's  War  cut  short  this  renewal  of  his  mission- 
ary work  and  compelled  his  speedy  return  to  Bethle- 
hem, 


28  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

Now  came  a  time  of  terrible  ordeal  for  the  Indian 
Christians  and  their  Moravian  pastors.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  Pennsylvania  colony  under  the  stress  of 
public  sentiment  ordered  the  transfer  to  Philadelphia, 
as  prisoners  of  war,  of  all  the  Indian  converts,  men, 
women,  and  children,  who  had  fled  the  wilderness  and 
had  sought  refuge  within  the  Moravian  settlements  of 
Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  in  Northampton  County.  On 
their  first  arrival  in  Philadelphia  they  almost  became 
the  victims  of  the  murderous  violence  of  a  mob.  Or- 
dered to  be  led  to  New  York  city,  they  were  halted  on 
their  toilsome  march  through  New  Jersey  and  turned 
back  again  to  Philadelphia,  where  for  sixteen  months 
these  Indian  Christians  were  imprisoned.  In  that  time 
nearly  one-half  their  number  died  of  small-pox.  Dur- 
ing this  time  of  captivity,  Zeisberger  and  his  colaborers, 
Grube  and  Schmick  with  their  wives,  shepherded  the 
persecuted  sheep  of  the  wilderness  in  a  way  worthy  of 
the  followers  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  sharing  in  all  their 
perils  and  ministering  to  them  in  all  their  distresses. 

In  the  spring  of  1765,  like  a  flock  of  partridges  that 
have  been  cooped  up  in  the  winter-quarters  of  a  farmer's 
barn-yard  and  are  set  free,  this  company  of  the  "  chil- 
dren of  the  forest "  were  allowed  to  return  to  their  forest 
home,  Machiwihilusing  on  the  Susquehanna.  Rev. 
John  Heckewelder,  the  young  assistant  of  Zeisberger  in 
the  leadership  of  the  Indian  Christians,  says  that  when 
they  went  out  to  the  chase  or  fished  in  the  river,  when 
they  roamed  the  woods  gathering  roots  and  herbs,  the 
game  they  found,  the  fish  they  caught,  and  every 


REV.   JOHN  HECKEWELDER. 


AND  HIS   BROWN    BRETHREN.  «9 

product  of  the  ground  seemed  to  them  as  specially 
given  by  the  hand  of  Providence.  With  praiseful  song 
men,  women,  and  children  busily  engaged  in  building  a 
town.  "  Behold,"  says  Zeisberger,  "  this  is  making  a 
right  use  of  their  liberty.  Beginning  their  work  in  this 
way,  God  will  abundantly  bless  them.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  is  a  joy  to  work  among  the  Indians." 

The  new  town  on  the  Susquehanna,  to  which  the 
Mission  Board  gave  the  name  Friedenshuetten  (Tents 
of  Peace),  is  thus  described.  It  had  twenty-nine  log- 
houses  with  windows  and  chimneys,  like  the  home- 
steads of  white  settlers,  and  thirteen  huts.  These  were 
built  along  one  street,  in  the  centre  of  which  stood  the 
church,  thirty-two  feet  by  twenty-four,  with  shingled 
roof,  and  a  wing  used  as  a  schoolhouse.  The  mis- 
sionaries' house  stood  opposite  the  church,  on  the  left- 
hand  side  of  the  street.  Each  house-lot  had  a  frontage 
of  thirty-two  feet.  A  ten-feet-wide  alley  ran  between 
every  two  lots.  Gardens  and  orchards  stocked  with 
vegetables  and  fruit-trees  lay  to  the  rear  of  the  home- 
steads. 

A  post  and  rail  fence  inclosed  the  town.  In  sum- 
mer time  the  street  and  alleys  were  kept  scrupulously 
clean  by  a  company  of  women,  who  swept  them  with 
wooden  brooms  and  removed  the  rubbish. 

Two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  meadow  and  farm 
land,  between  the  town  and  the  river,  were  inclosed 
with  two  miles  of  fencing.  A  canoe  for  each  household 
was  tied  at  the  river  bank.  Hundreds  of  cattle  and 
hogs,  and  poultry  of  every  kind,  were  raised  in  abund- 


30  DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

ance.  More  time  was  given  to  farming  than  to  hunt- 
ing, and  plentiful  crops  were  raised.  Corn,  maple- 
sugar,  butter,  and  pork,  together  with  canoes  of  white 
pine,  were  sold  to  the  white  settlers  and  to  visiting  In- 
dians. 

But  greater  than  the  material  prosperity  was  the 
spiritual  blessing  which  rested  upon  the  Indian  church 
in  the  wilderness.  The  first  baptism  of  an  Indian  con- 
vert, in  October  of  the  first  year,  marked  the  beginning 
of  a  great  revival.  Visiting  Indians,  who  came  from 
near  and  from  far — Mohawks,  Cayugas,  Senecas,  Onon- 
dagas,  Mohicans,  Wampanoags,  Delawares,  Tutelas, 
Tuscaroras,  and  Nanticokes — heard  the  story  of  Jesus. 
Zeisberger  wrote  :  "  For  several  months  a  great  revival 
has  been  prevailing  among  the  Indians  who  visit  us. 
All  who  attend  our  services  are  deeply  impressed  and 
listen  as  though  they  never  had  enough  of  the  message 
of  a  Saviour.  Often  while  I  am  preaching  the  power 
of  the  gospel  message  makes  them  tremble  with  emo- 
tion and  shake  with  fear,  until  they  almost  lose  con- 
sciousness and  seem  about  to  faint.  This  shows  with 
what  violence  the  powers  of  evil  within  them  oppose 
the  work  of  the  Cross.  As  a  rule  when  such  a  paroxysm 
is  over  they  weep  in  silence.  We  have  many  candi- 
dates for  baptism.  Anthony,  our  native  helper,  enjoys 
the  particular  esteem  of  his  unconverted  countrymen, 
and  he  sets  forth  the  Saviour's  love  with  such  feeling 
that  not  infrequently  his  hearers  burst  into  tears,  and 
he  is  constrained  to  weep  with  them." 

Without  waiting   for  the  inevitable   crisis — which 


AND  HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  31 

came  in  1772 — when  the  land  upon  which  this  Christian 
community  was  located  should  be  sold  to  the  white 
settler,  the  Mission  Board  sent  Zeisberger,  who  had 
come  to  be  the  recognized  leader  in  all  missionary  work 
among  the  Indians,  on  a  journey  of  exploration  to  the 
western  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  colony.  "  Intelligence 
reached  us  that  there  were  Indians  living  on  the  Alle- 
gheny River  who  desired  to  hear  the  gospel."  The 
purpose  of  this  perilous  journey  was  to  find  out  "  wheth- 
er anything  could  there  be  accomplished  for  the  Sa- 
viour." 

Zeisberger  set  out  with  the  helpers,  Anthony  and 
Papunhank,  as  his  companions,  on  foot,  with  one  pack- 
horse,  in  September,  1767.  From  Friedenshuetten  they 
made  their  way  by  canoe  and  on  foot  through  the  al- 
most impenetrable  wilderness  of  northern  and  north- 
western Pennsylvania,  where  doubtless  no  white  man 
had  ever  travelled,  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Allegheny 
River,  in  what  is  now  Potter  County. 

On  their  journey  they  came  to  the  lodge  of  a  Seneca 
chief.  "Whither is  the  pale-face  going?"  "  To  Gosch- 
goschiink  "  [a  Monsey  Indian  town  on  the  Allegheny, 
near  the  mouth  of  Tionesta  Creek,  in  what  is  now  Ve- 
nango  County].  "  Why  does  the  pale-face  come  on  so 
unknown  a  road  ?  This  is  no  road  for  white  people, 
and  no  white  man  has  come  this  trail  before."  "  Sen- 
eca, the  business  that  calls  me  among  the  Indians  is 
very  different  from  that  of  other  white  people,  and 
hence  the  roads  I  travel  are  different  too.  I  am  here  to 
bring  the  Indians  good  and  great  words."  For  two 


32  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

hours  the  host  and  his  guest  kept  up  a  cross-fire  of  at- 
tack and  defence  of  the  missionary's  purpose.  At 
length  he  demanded  his  guest's  name.  Zeisberger's 
response,  "  I  am  Ganousseracheri,"  acted  like  a  charm. 
The  chiefs  stern  face  relaxed,  breaking  out  into  smiles. 
He  grasped  his  guest's  hand,  called  him  his  brother, 
said  he  had  often  heard  of  him,  and  begged  him  to  ex- 
cuse his  cold  reception  of  him.  He  warned  Zeisberger, 
"  The  Indians  of  Goschgoschiink  will  not  hesitate  to 
murder  you."  But  nothing  could  keep  the  intrepid 
messenger  of  the  cross  from  continuing  his  journey  to 
its  destination.  He  reached  it  on  the  i6th  of  October. 
Of  the  effects  of  his  first  preaching  service,  on  his 
arrival,  he  says,  "Never  before  have  I  seen  both  the 
darkness  of  hell  and  the  invincible  power  of  the  gospel 
so  clearly  depicted  in  the  faces  of  Indians."  After  a 
stay  of  seven  days,  during  which  Zeisberger  secured 
permission  to  establish  a  permanent  mission  at  this 
point — a  matter  which  was  only  settled  favorably  after  a 
fierce  conflict  with  the  Indian  "  prophet "  Wangomen — 
he  returned  to  report  to  the  home  Board.  In  June  of 
the  next  year,  1768,  Zeisberger  and  Gottlob  Senseman 
and  wife,  together  with  three  families  of  Indian  Chris- 
tians, the  Helpers,  Anthony  and  Joanna,  Abraham  and 
Salome,  Peter  and  Abigail,  arrived  on  the  Allegheny  to 
begin  the  new  mission.  Subsequently  it  was  trans- 
ferred to  a  second  site  and  finally  to  a  third  site,  within 
what  is  now  the  "  Oil  Region  "  of  Pennsylvania,  in 
Lawrence  County,  on  the  Beaver  River,  between  the 
Shenango  River  and  Slippery  Rock  Creek. 

American  Hero«i.     6 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  33 

The  missionaries  encountered  the  fierce  opposition 
of  heathen  Indians  in  their  attempts  to  Christianize 
those  who  came  to  hear  the  gospel.  Twice  did  Provi- 
dence prevent  the  carrying  out  of  a  plot  deliberately 
laid  to  murder  Zeisberger,  "  the  man  in  a  black  coat," 
who  wrote  at  this  time  in  his  Diary :  "  They  will  cer- 
tainly not  succeed,  for  He  that  is  with  us  is  stronger 
than  they."  The  most  signal  triumph  in  these  years 
of  hard  campaigning  under  the  banner  of  the  cross,  in 
the  Allegheny  region,  was  the  conversion  of  the  elo- 
quent Indian  warrior,  Glikkikan,  who  had  never  yet 
met  his  equal  among  whites  or  Indians.  He  came  to 
the  mission  to  confound  the  heralds  of  Christ,  but 
like  Saul  at  Damascus  was  himself  confounded.  His 
conversion  marked  the  turning  of  the  tide  in  favor  of 
the  mission.  A  revival  broke  out  at  the  new  mission 
station,  named  Friedenstadt  (City  of  Peace).  In  the 
house  of  Abraham,  the  Helper,  inquiry  meetings  were 
held  every  evening,  sometimes  lasting  until  midnight. 
Even  the  children  were  impressed  and  talked  of  Jesus. 

Among  the  converts  who  were  baptized  was  Glik- 
kikan, who  received  the  name  Isaac.  Zeisberger  says 
of  him  that  he  was  the  wisest  counsellor  and  bravest 
captain  of  his  Chief,  and  that  when  the  latter  reproached 
him  for  having  gone  over  to  the  missionaries,  saying, 
"  In  good  time  you  will  discover  how  miserably  you 
have  been  deceived,"  Isaac  Glikkikan  replied,  "  You 
are  right ;  I  have  joined  the  Moravians.  Where  they 
go,  I  will  go  ;  where  they  lodge,  I  will  lodge ;  nothing 
shall  separate  me  from  them.  Their  people  shall  be 


34  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

my  people,  and  their  God  my  God."  One  day  after 
listening  to  a  sermon  on  sin  and  grace,  Glikkikan, 
deeply  moved,  walked  to  his  hut  through  the  village 
sobbing  aloud.  "  This  is  wonderful,"  writes  Zeisberger ; 
"a  proud  war-captain  sheds  tears  in  the  presence  of 
his  former  associates.  Thus  the  Saviour  by  His  word 
breaks  the  hard  hearts  and  humbles  the  pride  of  the 
Indians." 

So  complete  was  the  triumph  of  the  gospel  over  its 
enemies  that  on  their  own  proposal  Zeisberger  was 
adopted  into  the  Monsey  tribe  of  Indians,  and  the 
religion  of  Jesus  was  recognized  as  that  of  a  majority 
of  the  tribe. 

In  March,  1771,  an  urgent  invitation  from  the 
Grand  Council  of  the  Delaware  Nation  led  Zeisber- 
ger to  visit  their  capital  situated  in  what  is  now  Ox- 
ford township,  Tuscarawas  County,  Ohio.  Here  he 
was  entertained  as  the  guest  of  the  head-Chief  Net- 
awatwes.  It  was  his  first  visit  to  Ohio,  the  theatre 
of  his  most  successful  missionary  activity  and  of  his 
most  appalling  trials  during  the  next  thirty-seven 
years  of  his  career.  He  was  just  fifty  years  old  when 
he  first  came  to  the  Western  territory. 

In  accordance  with  Zeisberger's  recommendation, 
on  his  return,  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  determined 
to  accept  the  formal  invitation  of  the  Grand  Council 
of  the  Delawares.  It  was  resolved  that  the  entire 
body  of  Indian  converts  (at  Friedenshuetten  on  the 
Susquehanna  and  at  Friedenstadt  in  the  Allegheny 
region)  be  removed  to  a  new  settlement  to  be  begun  in 


AND  HIS  BROWN   BRETHREN.  35 

what  is  now  northern  Ohio,  in  the  Tuscarawas  Val- 
ley. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Muskingum  River,  in  what  is 
now  Tuscarawas  County,  near  the  "  Beautiful  Spring  " 
pointed  out  to  them  by  Chief  Netawatwes,  who  made 
them  a  grant  of  land  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  the  first 
settlement  was  begun  by  Zeisberger  and  Heckewelder 
in  the  spring  of  1772.  He  gave  it  the  name  Schon- 
Brunn,  the  German  for  the  Indian  name  which  signified 
Beautiful  Spring. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  years  this  had  grown  into  a 
cluster  of  Christian  communities :  Gnadenhuetten 
(Tents  of  Grace),  Lichtenau  (Meadow  of  Light),  New 
Schon-Brunn,  and  Salem.  Here  were  dwelling  in 
peace  and  plenty  hundreds  of  Indian  converts  and 
their  families,  and  a  corps  of  devoted  missionary 
Brethren  and  Sisters  who  labored  under  the  superin- 
tendency  of  Zeisberger,  Rev.  John  Heckewelder  and 
wife,  Rev.  Gottlob  Senseman  and  wife,  Rev.  John  G. 
Jungmann  and  wife,  Rev.  John  Roth  and  wife,  Rev. 
John  J.  Schmick  and  wife,  Rev.  Michael  Jung,  and 
Rev.  William  Edwards,  and  at  a  later  time  Rev.  Ben- 
jamin Mortimer  and  Rev.  Abraham  Luckenbach. 

So  complete  was  the  success  which  crowned  these 
gospel  labors,  and  so  commanding  became  the  personal 
influence  of  Zeisberger,  that  just  before  the  breaking 
out  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  the  Grand  Council 
of  the  Delawares  solemnly  adopted  an  edict  of  which 
the  following  is  the  principal  part : 

"  Liberty  is  given  the  Christian  religion,  which  the 


36  DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

Council  advises  the  entire  nation  to  adopt.  The  Chris- 
tian Indians  are  on  an  entire  equality  with  the  Dela- 
wares,  all  constituting  together  one  nation.  Christian 
Indians  have  like  property  rights  in  the  nation's  lands 
with  the  rest  of  the  nation.  Only  converts  may  settle 
near  the  towns  of  the  Christian  Indians." 

The  following  statutes  for  the  government  of  his 
Indian  communities  were  drawn  up  by  Zeisberger,  and 
in  accordance  with  them  were  ail  their  affairs  regu- 
lated : 

"  We  will  know  no  other  God  but  the  one  only  true 
God,  who  made  us  and  all  creatures,  and  came  into 
this  world  in  order  to  save  sinners ;  to  him  alone  we 
pray.  We  will  rest  from  work  on  the  Lord's  day,  and 
attend  public  service.  We  will  honor  father  and 
mother,  and  when  they  grow  old  and  needy  we  will  do 
for  them  what  we  can. 

"  No  one  shall  have  leave  to  dwell  with  us  until  our 
Pastors  have  given  their  consent,  after  due  examination 
by  the  Helpers.  We  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  thieves, 
murderers,  whoremongers,  adulterers,  or  drunkards. 
We  will  not  take  part  in  dances,  sacrifices,  heathenish 
festivals  or  games.  We  will  use  no  witchcraft  in  hunt- 
ing. 

"We  will  obey  our  Pastors  and  the  Helpers  ap- 
pointed to  preserve  order  in  our  public  services,  and  in 
the  towns  and  in  the  fields.  We  will  not  be  idle,  nor 
scold,  nor  beat  one  another,  nor  tell  lies.  Whosoever 
injures  the  property  of  his  neighbor  shall  make  restitu- 
tion. 


AND  HIS  BROWN   BRETHREN.  37 

"  A  man  shall  have  but  one  wife,  shall  love  her  and 
shall  provide  for  her  and  for  his  children.  A  woman 
shall  have  but  one  husband,  shall  obey  him,  care  for  her 
children,  and  be  cleanly  in  all  things.  Young  persons 
shall  not  marry  without  the  consent  of  their  parents  and 
their  pastor. 

"  We  will  not  admit  rum  or  any  other  intoxicating 
liquor  into  our  towns.  If  strangers  or  traders  shall 
bring  intoxicating  liquors,  our  Helpers  shall  take  it  from 
them  and  not  restore  it  until  the  owners  are  ready  to 
leave  the  place. 

"  No  one  shall  contract  debts  with  traders  or  receive 
goods  to  sell  for  traders,  without  the  consent  of  the 
Helpers.  Whoever  goes  on  a  hunt  or  journey  must 
give  due  notice  to  the  Pastors  or  Stewards.  When- 
ever the  Stewards  or  Helpers  appoint  a  time  to  make 
fences  or  to  do  other  work  for  the  common  good,  we 
will  assist  and  do  our  part.  Whenever  corn  is  needed 
to  entertain  strangers,  or  sugar  for  lovefeasts,  we  will 
freely  contribute  from  our  supply.  We  will  not  go  to 
war  and  will  not  buy  booty  taken  in  war." 

The  government  of  these  towns  was  administered  by 
the  Missionaries  and  the  Helpers,  who  constituted  a 
municipal  Council.  Whenever  the  question  of  re- 
moval came  up  after  the  dispersion  in  1781,  the  de- 
cision was  always  left  to  the  vote  of  the  people.  Agri- 
culture and  stock-raising  were  what  mainly  employed 
these  communities  of  Indian  converts,  although  hunt- 
ing was  not  given  up  altogether. 

The  material  and  spiritual  prosperity   of  this  re- 

448943 


38  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

markable  cluster  of  Indian  towns  in  the  valley  of  the 
Tuscarawas,  under  the  superintendency  of  Zeisberger 
and  his  devoted  assistants,  excited  the  wondering  admi- 
ration alike  of  the  white  man  and  of  the  red  man.  Many 
came  long  distances  to  visit  these  habitations  of  peace 
and  plenty  upon  which  rested  the  smile  of  God. 

The  church  at  Schon-Brunn,  the  oldest  settlement, 
had  room  for  five  hundred  hearers,  yet  it  often  proved 
too  small  to  hold  the  people  who  crowded  to  hear  the 
gospel  message. 

Among  the  converts  were  many  chiefs  of  the  vari- 
ous tribes  of  the  Delaware  Nation,  together  with 
Mohicans,  Nanticokes,  Shawanese,  and  others,  who 
constituted  a  part  of  the  abundant  ingathering  of  this 
most  prosperous  Indian  mission. 

On  Easter  morning,  1774,  Zeisberger  led  the  people 
in  the  praying  of  the  beautiful  Easter  Morning  Litany 
of  the  Moravian  Church,  which  he  had  translated  into 
the  Delaware  Indian  language. 

The  six  years  from  1771  to  1776  mark  the  time  of 
Zeisberger's  greatest  success  in  his  life-work  of  evangel- 
izing the  Indians.  It  can  be  said  with  truth  that  no 
man  has  ever  reached  an  equal  degree  of  success  in 
evangelizing  the  American  red  man. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  American  Revolution 
began  the  troublous  years  of  Zeisberger's  missionary 
work,  culminating,  in  1781,  in  the  destruction  of  the  fair 
fabric  of  Christian  Indian  civilization  in  the  Tuscarawas 
Valley  and  the  dispersion  of  his  Indian  church.  There- 
after for  more  than  twenty  years  he  shepherded  his 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  39 

little  flock  of  "  brown  brethren  "  in  the  face  of  appalling 
perils,  and  amid  fearful  privations,  in  its  wanderings 
hither  and  thither  in  the  wilderness,  until,  within  ten  years 
of  his  death,  he  was  recalled  to  the  Tuscarawas  Valley. 

The  flourishing  settlements  in  northern  Ohio  were 
about  half-way  between  the  American  and  British  fron- 
tier lines,  with  the  American  headquarters  for  all  that 
Western  territory  at  Fort  Pitt  (Pittsburgh),  and  the 
British  at  Fort  Detroit.  As  an  apostle  of  peace  Zeis- 
berger  was  helpless  in  the  face  of  these  bitter  antago- 
nists, and  was  open  to  assault  from  either  as  the  sup- 
posed favorer  of  the  other.  The  Indians  among  whom 
he  was  laboring  were  the  objects  of  rival  diplomacies 
and  plottings,  that  they  might  be  secured  as  allies  of  the 
one  against  the  other.  It  is  easily  understood  that  at 
such  a  time  of  war  and  intrigue  the  work  of  the  mis- 
sionary must  either  cease  for  the  time  being  or  be  an- 
nihilated. 

The  crisis  came  in  the  summer  of  1781  when  the 
emissaries  of  the  British  commandant  at  Detroit  ap- 
peared at  Schon-Brunn,  in  the  month  of  August,  with 
three  hundred  Indian  warriors,  under  the  leadership  of 
the  British  captain,  Elliott.  It  had  been  determined 
that  the  presence  of  this  body  of  neutral  Indians,  under 
the  leadership  of  Zeisberger  and  his  fellow-missionaries, 
could  no  longer  be  tolerated.  To  this  end  the  order 
was  given  to  remove  the  missionaries  at  any  cost.  This 
fell  in  with  the  plans  of  the  heathen  Indians,  who  always 
found  in  these  settlements  a  barrier  against  their  ma- 
raudings and  murderous  assaults. 


40  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

In  his  Diary  Zeisberger  describes  how  this  was  car- 
ried out.  "  They  laid  hands  on  me  and  Brothers 
Heckewelder  and  Senseman,  and  led  us  away  captive. 
They  stripped  us,  taking  away  all  our  clothes.  We 
were  then  brought  to  the  Englishman's  tent,  where 
they  gave  us  some  old  clothes,  so  that  we  were  not  en- 
tirely naked.  Mrs.  Senseman  with  her  babe,  only  three 
days  old,  was  forced  to  get  up  out  of  her  bed  at  night, 
and  together  with  Mrs.  Zeisberger  and  Mrs.  Jungman, 
all  in  their  night-clothes,  these  Christian  women  were 
carried  down  the  creek  in  a  canoe  to  the  rendezvous 
near  to  their  imprisoned  husbands.  Mrs.  Heckewelder, 
with  her  five-months' -old  baby  daughter,  was  undis- 
turbed until  the  following  morning.  After  plundering 
the  missionaries'  houses  and  ruthlessly  destroying  their 
effects  (cutting  open  their  pillows  and  feather-beds,  etc.), 
shooting  their  cattle  and  swine  and  poultry,  they  com- 
pelled the  missionaries  and  their  wives  to  set  out  on 
foot  upon  a  toilsome  march  through  the  wilderness  in 
the  direction  of  Detroit."  Bishop  de  Schweinitz,  in  his 
Life  of  Zeisberger,  says  :  "  It  was  a  sad  journey.  Zeis- 
berger and  his  fellow-missionaries  were  turning  their 
backs  upon  the  scenes  of  more  than  eight  years'  indus- 
try (1772  to  1781),  and  of  a  Christian  community  never 
equalled  in  the  history  of  missions  among  the  American 
Indians.  They  were  leaving  behind  rich  plantations 
with  five  thousand  bushels  of  unharvested  corn,  besides 
large  quantities  stored  in  barns ;  hundreds  of  young 
cattle  and  swine  roaming  the  woods  ;  poultry  of  every 
kind;  gardens  stocked  with  an  abundance  of  vegeta- 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  41 

bles ;  three  flourishing  towns,  each  with  a  commodious 
house  of  worship ;  all  the  furniture  of  their  homes  ;  the 
implements  of  husbandry  ;  in  a  word,  their  entire  prop- 
erty save  what  could  be  carried  on  pack-horses  or  in 
canoes." 

But  more  than  all  the  material  loss  was  the  terrible 
blow  to  the  prestige  of  the  work  of  the  mission  among 
the  Indians.  Its  glory  was  gone.  The  independence 
of  the  Indian  Christians,  as  recognized  in  their  rela- 
tions to  the  nation  of  Delaware  Indians,  and  which  se- 
cured to  them  Indian  rights  and  immunities  at  the 
hands  of  all  the  other  Indian  clans  and  nations,  was 
destroyed. 

Zeisberger,  at  the  age  of  sixty,  after  having  given 
more  than  thirty  of  these  years  to  unremitting  labors  in 
behalf  of  the  evangelization  of  the  red  man,  saw  the 
shipwreck  of  his  life-work.  For  well-nigh  twenty  fol- 
lowing years  of  laborious  and  harassing  leadership  he 
was  the  Moses  of  the  remnant  of  the  Indian  Church, 
guiding  it  with  all  the  firmness  and  gentleness  and  in- 
trepid devotion  of  the  Hebrew  leader,  hither  and 
thither  through  the  wilderness  of  northern  Ohio  and 
southern  Michigan  and  the  adjacent  parts  of  Canada, 
until,  in  1798,  he  was  permitted,  in  God's  good  provi- 
dence, to  return  to  the  Tuscarawas  Valley,  and  near  to 
the  "  Beautiful  Spring "  and  the  site  of  Schon-Brunn, 
to  found  his  last  Indian  settlement,  Goshen,  in  the  sev- 
enty-eighth year  of  his  pilgrimage. 

The  record  of  these  seventeen  years  of  leadership  of 
the  Indian  Church  in  the  wilderness  has  been  recently 


42  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

published  by  the  Historical  and  Philosophical  Society 
of  Ohio,  in  an  English  translation,  by  Eugene  F.  Bliss, 
of  the  German  Manuscript  Diary  of  Zeisberger. 

It  tells  how  the  news  of  the  "  Gnadenhuetten  Mas- 
sacre "  was  brought  to  the  captive  missionaries  at  their 
first  halting  station  at  "  Captives'  Town  "  [in  what  is 
now  Antrim  township,  Wyandot  County,  Ohio],  near 
Sandusky,  in  March,  1782,  after  their  first  winter  in 
captivity.  Ninety  Indian  Christians,  men,  women,  and 
children,  had  returned  to  their  former  homes  in  the 
Tuscarawas  Valley,  in  early  springtime,  to  recover  a 
portion  of  their  still  unharvested  corn-crop.  A  force 
of  American  militia-men  from  the  vicinity  of  Pittsburgh, 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Williamson,  surprised 
them  at  their  labors  in  the  field  and  murdered  them  in 
cold  blood ! 

We  will  let  Zeisberger  tell  the  story,  as  he  records 
it  in  his  Diary  under  date  of  March  23,  1782.  "  To-day 
we  have  the  first  trustworthy  news  of  the  horrible  mur- 
der of  our  Indian  brethren  at  Gnadenhuetten  and  Sa- 
lem, March  7  and  8.  Our  Indian  brethren  (who  had 
been  driven  away  from  the  Tuscarawas  towns  when  the 
missionaries  were  driven  off  and  had  shared  the  cap- 
tivity of  their  pastors)  during  the  whole  winter  had 
suffered  great  hunger,  for  in  this  neighborhood  nothing 
was  to  be  had.  Since  now  they  heard  that  there  was 
corn  enough  in  our  towns  and  that  they  had  nothing  to 
fear  to  go  there  and  get  it,  they  made  ready  and  went 
away.  For  they  saw  nothing  else  before  them,  if  they 
remained,  than  that  they  and  their  children  must  starve. 


GNADENHUTTEN,   OHIO. 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  43 

"  We  advised  them  at  Christmas  and  at  New  Year's 
to  go  there,  for  as  long  as  snow  remained  there  was 
the  least  danger.  But  they  did  not  go  until  the  snow 
melted,  and  then  it  was  too  late  and  dangerous.  When 
they  were  there  they  believed  themselves  quite  secure. 
Instead  of  hastening  to  get  away  again,  they  stayed 
several  weeks  in  the  towrts  and  fields,  having  then 
•enough  to  eat. 

"  The  militia,  some  200  in  number,  as  we  hear, 
came  first  to  Gnadenhuetten.  Our  Indians  were 
mostly  in  the  cornfields  and  saw  the  militia  come,  but 
no  one  thought  of  fleeing,  for  they  suspected  no  ill. 
The  militia  came  to  them  and  bade  them  come  into 
town  and  no  harm  should  befall  them.  They  trusted 
and  went,  but  they  were  all  bound,  the  men  being  put 
into  one  house  and  the  women  into  another.  The 
brethren  began  to  sing  hymns  and  spoke  words  of 
encouragement  and  consolation  one  to  another,  until 
they  were  all  slain.  The  sisters  soon  afterwards  met 
the  same  fate.  Christina  [a  widow  who  had  been  edu- 
cated at  Bethlehem],  the  Mohican  (who  spoke  English 
and  German  fluently),  fell  upon  her  knees  before  the 
colonel  and  begged  for  life,  but  got  for  answer  that  he 
could  not  help  her.  The  brethren  and  sisters  of  Salem 
were  bound  in  like  manner,  led  into  town  and  slaugh- 
tered. The  militia,  before  murdering  them,  had  made 
our  Indians  bring  out  all  their  hidden  goods,  and  then 
took  them  away.  They  had  to  tell  the  soldiers  where 
the  bees  were  and  help  get  the  honey  out.  Other 
things  also  they  had  to  get  for  them  before  they  were 


44  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

killed.  They  prayed  and  sang  until  the  tomahawks  of 
the  militia-men  stuck  in  their  heads.  The  young  man 
Jacob  (who  brought  the  news),  who  was  scalped  and 
got  away,  said  the  blood  flowed  in  streams  into  the 
cellar  of  the  house.  They  burned  the  bodies  together 
with  the  houses,  which  they  set  on  fire  [a  day  or  two 
after  the  massacre]." 

Thus  were  butchered  in  cold  blood  twenty-nine  men, 
twenty-seven  women,  eleven  boys,  eleven  girls,  and 
twelve  babes  at  the  breast,  members  of  the  Indian 
church  now  in  captivity. 

Zeisberger  adds :  "  This  news  sank  deep  into  our 
hearts,  so  that  these  our  brethren  and  sisters,  who  as 
martyrs  had  all  at  one  time  gone  to  the  Saviour,  were 
always,  day  and  night,  before  our  eyes  and  in  our 
thoughts,  and  we  could  not  forget  them.  But  this  in 
some  measure  comforted  us :  that  they  passed  into  the 
Saviour's  arms  in  such  a  resigned  disposition  of  heart, 
where  they  will  for  ever  rest  protected  from  the  sins 
and  all  the  wants  of  this  world." 

On  April  8,  1782,  he  writes  in  his  Diary:  "  Nowhere 
is  a  place  to  be  found  to  which  we  can  retire  with  our 
Indians  and  be  secure.  The  world  is  all  too  narrow. 
From  the  white  people,  or  so-called  Christians,  we  can 
hope  for  no  protection,  and  among  the  heathen  we  have 
no  friends  left,  such  outlaws  are  we !  But,  praise  be  to 
God,  the  Lord  our  God  yet  lives,  who  will  not  forsake 
us.  He  will  punish  us  if  we  deserve  punishment,  that 
afterwards  he  may  be  the  more  merciful  to  us." 

"Our   Indian  church,"   dispersed  and  persecuted, 


AND   HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  45 

like  sheep  that  have  no  shepherd,  knowing  not  whither 
to  turn  or  whom  to  trust — prayer  for  them  was  the 
burden  of  all  his  petitionings. 

At  length  in  July,  1782,  by  permission  of  the  Detroit 
commandant,  Major  Schuyler  de  Peyster,  Zeisberger 
began  a  settlement  for  the  scattered  remnant  of  the  In- 
dian church  in  what  is  now  Clinton  township,  Macomb 
County,  Michigan,  and  named  it  New  Gnadenhuetten. 
It  was  situated  some  twenty-three  and  a  half  miles  from 
Detroit.  After  four  years  of  quiet  and  measurable  suc- 
cess, the  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  seemed  to  open  the  way  for  the  return  of  the 
veteran  Missionary  Superintendent  and  his  reunited 
remnant  of  the  Indian  church  to  the  Tuscarawas  Val- 
ley. Here  Congress  had  made  a  large  grant  of  land 
for  the  abode  and  the  support  of  the  Moravian  Indians. 
But  the  complications  with  the  various  Indian  nations 
in  the  Northwestern  Territory,  who  refused  to  submit 
to  the  virtual  confiscation  of  their  land,  rendered  such  a 
return  inadvisable. 

Their  Chippewa  neighbors  urged  upon  them  the 
fact  that  they  had  been  granted  an  asylum  on  their  ter- 
ritory only  until  peace  should  be  reestablished.  Ac- 
cordingly Zeisberger  determined  upon  a  return  to  Ohio 
territory.  In  two  sloops  they  were  conveyed  across 
Lake  Erie,  and  after  many  "  perils  in  the  waters  "  and 
"  perils  in  the  wilderness "  they  were  landed  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga,  where  Cleveland  is  now  built. 
"  Pilgerruh,"  a  temporary  abiding-place,  was  built  in 
what  is  now  Independence  township,  Cuyahoga  County, 


46  DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

on   the  eastern   bank  of  the  river,  "  probably  not  far 
from  the  northern  boundary." 

After  only  a  year's  sojourn  at  this  "  lodge  in  the 
wilderness,"  Zeisberger  transferred  his  settlement  to 
what  is  now  Milan  township,  Erie  County,  Ohio,  a  few 
miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Huron  River.  De  Schwei- 
nitz  locates  the  site  as  probably  near  to  that  of  Milan. 
They  reached  the  site  of  the  new  settlement  in  May, 

1787.  It  bears  the  name  of  New  Salem  in  the  records 
of  the  Indian  mission. 

Until  March,  1791,  this  Indian  settlement  flourished 
with  a  degree  of  material  and  spiritual  prosperity  that 
seemed  to  bring  back  again  the  golden  days  of  blessed 
and  fruitful  missionary  activity  on  the  Lehigh  and  the 
Susquehanna  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  the  Tuscarawas 
Valley  before  the  Gnadenhuetten  massacre.  Many 
conversions  attended  the  faithful  preaching  of  the  gospel 
message.  Gelelemend,  "  the  great  chief  of  Goschgo- 
schflnk  "  (the  former  capital  of  the  Delaware  Indians) 
"  came  like  any  other  sinner,  weeping  and  begging  for 
grace  at  the  Saviour's  feet."  He  was  baptized  after 
months  of  probation,  and  became  a  faithful  Helper  in 
the  church. 

Here  the  faithful  Brother  Schebosch  entered  his  rest, 
aged  sixty-eight.  Identified  since  1742  with  the  Mora- 
vian mission  among  the  Indians,  he  had  been  one  of 
Zeisberger's  most  trusty  and  efficient  helpers.  He  says 
of  him  in  his  Diary,  under  date  of  Friday,  September  5, 

1788,  the   day  of  his  burial,  "  He  was  serviceable  to 
every  man  without  distinction,  white  or  Indian,  at  all 


AND  HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  47 

times  ready  to  help  when  he  could.  He  bore  his  cross 
with  patience,  for  in  this  life  he  seldom  had  things  easy 
and  good.  But  he  was  never  heard  to  complain  or  fret, 
even  if  things  went  hard  with  him,  and  he  had  not  even 
enough  to  eat.  He  loved  and  was  loved.  We  shaD 
long  miss  him  among  us.  His  stay  here  below  will  re- 
main with  us  and  with  the  Indian  brethren  in  blessed 
remembrance." 

Of  a  female  helper,  the  Indian  woman  Agnes,  who 
died  in  peace  at  New  Gnadenhuetten,  in  Michigan,  1783, 
who  had  been  baptized  in  September,  1751,  at  the  station 
Gnadenhuetten,  on  the  Mahoning,  in  Carbon  County, 
Pennsylvania,  he  says  :  "  She  went  through  all  the  fatali- 
ties, difficulties  and  changes  through  which  the  Indian 
church  passed:  at  the  burning  of  the  first  Gnaden- 
huetten in  1755,  then  at  Nain,  and  in  imprisonment  in 
Philadelphia;  in  1765  at  Friedenshuetten  on  the  Sus- 
quehanna,  in  1772  at  Friedenstadt  on  the  Allegheny, 
and  thence  to  the  Tuscarawas  Valley.  In  the  year 
1781,  when  the  Indian  church  on  the  Muskingum  was 
carried  away  captive,  she  had  part  in  all  the  hardships 
we  encountered.  After  1782,  when  the  Indian  church 
had  been  altogether  robbed  of  its  missionaries,  she  took 
the  first  opportunity  to  rejoin  us  at  New  Gnadenhuetten, 
in  Michigan,  where  she  died  in  peace.  She  is  a  clear 
example  and  proof  that  whoever  has  a  true  heart  the 
Saviour  helps  through  all  tribulations  and  upholds  to 
the  end." 

To  "  our  dear  old  Abraham,"  who  died  a  few  years 
later,  in  1791,  Zeisberger  pays  this  tribute  (he  was 


48  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

one  of  the  fruits  of  the  Friedenshuetten  revival,  on  the 
Susquehanna,  in  1765)  :  "  By  the  grace  of  the  Saviour 
he  made  himself  free  altogether  from  Indian  supersti- 
tion and  gave  himself  entirely  to  the  Saviour.  He 
proved  this  in  his  life,  and  through  all  these  years  to 
the  very  end  he  remained  true  to  the  church,  and  he  is 
therefore  a  rare  example.  He  was  formerly  one  of  the 
greatest  drunkards  and  fighters,  so  that  all  had  to  flee 
before  him.  But  he  had  put  off  the  old  man  with  his 
works  and  had  put  on  Christ  who  lived  in  him.  Dur- 
ing all  opposition,  amid  reproach  and  persecution  from 
the  savages,  he  freely  acknowledged  Christ  and  praised 
him  as  the  Redeemer  and  only  Saviour  of  the  heathen. 
He  often  ended  his  exhortations  to  the  savages  with 
these  words :  '  Now,  my  friends,  I  have  told  you  how 
you  will  be  happy  and  can  attain  to  eternal  life.  I  have 
also  told  you  what  you  have  to  expect  in  case  you  do 
not  receive  it.  I  have  spoken  everything  which  one 
must  know  who  wishes  to  be  saved.  It  is  a  comfort  to 
me  to  have  had  this  opportunity  of  saying  this  to  you, 
so  that  you  cannot  on  that  day  accuse  me,  We  were 
with  the  believers,  but  they  told  us  nothing  of  this.'  He 
filled  the  office  of  Overseer  in  the  Indian  church  for 
many  years  unweariedly,  in  perfect  fidelity  day  and 
night.  He  went  through  much  suffering  and  hardship 
with  the  Indian  church.  In  his  last  illness  he  said  that 
if  it  were  the  Saviour's  will  that  he  should  depart  it  was 
well.  He  should  go  to  him  with  joy  as  a  poor  sinner, 
who  had  nothing  good  to  show  but  only  Jesus'  blood 
and  righteousness.  He  was  conscious  to  the  last. 

American  Heroes.     *7 


AND  HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  49 

When  the  Lord's  blessing  had  been  imparted  to  him, 
he  said,  '  Now  I  am  happy.'  We  have  had  but  one 
Abraham.  We  shall  miss  him,  but  we  do  not  begrudge 
him  his  blessed  call  to  rest  in  Jesus'  wounds.  Wt 
thank  the  Saviour  for  lending  him  to  us  so  many  years. 
May  he  be  pleased  further  to  think  of  us  and  to  send  us 
more  such  true  helpers,  supplying  them  with  grace, 
courage,  and  strength  to  his  praise." 

Of  William,  a  national  Helper,  who  died  in  1791, 
Zeisberger  records :  "  In  his  youth  he  was  much  with 
the  late  Sir  William  Johnson,  whose  interpreter  he  was 
at  the  treaties.  He  was  honored  by  the  Indians  and 
by  the  whites  as  a  man  of  consequence.  He  joined  the 
church  at  Friedenshuetten  in  1770,  and  at  once  formed 
the  resolution  to  live  all  his  life  in  the  church  and  to  say 
good-night  to  the  world,  Indian  councils,  the  chiefs  and 
their  affairs.  He  kept  this  resolution  to  the  end.  He 
came  to  Ohio  in  '72  and  soon  became  a  national  Helper 
and  our  interpreter,  for  which  he  had  a  fine  talent.  He 
had  a  fine  gift,  when  preaching  Christ  to  the  heathen 
Indians,  to  make  them  understand  plainly,  after  the  In- 
dian way  and  manner  of  speech,  what  served  for  their 
salvation ;  and  his  words  found  acceptance,  for  he  was 
loved  and  respected  by  all  in  and  out  of  the  church.  His 
intercourse  with  the  brethren  was  upright,  straightfor- 
ward, and  for  their  blessing  and  edification.  As  often 
as  we  had  to  treat  with  the  chiefs  about  our  affairs  we 
always  employed  him,  for  we  could  depend  upon  it 
that  our  purpose  would  be  attained.  More  than  others 
he  had  a  successful  hand  in  such  transactions.  He  con- 


50  DAVID    ZEISBERGER 

sidered  well  what  he  had  to  accomplish,  and  he  knew 
well  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  chiefs,  and  the 
Saviour  was  with  him.  The  last  business  of  this  sort 
which  he  undertook  was  to  take  back  the  hatchet  sent 
to  our  Christian  Indians  from  Fort  Wayne  (Gigeyunk) 
summoning  them  to  war.  He  did  not  want  to  go,  but 
went  from  obedience ;  for  he  was  not  well,  and  the  mat- 
ter was  unpleasant  to  him.  But  in  this  affair  also  he 
was  so  successful  that  since  that  time  we  have  had  no 
further  trouble  about  this.  He  came  back  from  his 
errand  to  Fort  Wayne  so  sick  that  he  was  scarcely 
able  to  give  an  account  of  his  journey  and  what  he  had 
done.  He  said  to  Brother  Samuel,  who  was  also  sick, 
'  We  cannot  know  which  of  us  two  will  first  go  to  the 
Saviour,  you  or  I.  If  you  go  first,  be  assured  that  I 
will  remain  faithful  to  the  Saviour ;  if  I  go  before  you, 
do  thou  remain  faithful,  so  that  we  may  see  each  other 
again.'  He  fell  asleep  calmly  and  happily,  conscious 
to  the  last." 

Rich  fruitage  of  the  veteran  missionary's  life-labor ! 
Happy  indeed  amid  all  the  countless  trials  and  poign- 
ant sorrows  that  clouded  his  career,  in  the  triumph  of 
the  Saviour's  grace  over  the  powers  of  darkness,  in  the 
salvation  of  hundreds  and  thousands  of  precious  souls. 

In  the  midst  of  the  fruitful  activity  of  the  settlement 
at  New  Salem  came  the  "  foreboding  "  of  another  en^ 
forced  pilgrimage.  The  warlike  relations  of  the  ne<* 
Government  with  the  Indians  of  that  Western  territory 
made  it  no  longer  safe  for  the  Indian  church.  -Again 
the  mournful  plaint  finds  a  place  in  his  Diary :  "  The 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  51 

world,  which  yet  is  large  and  contains  land  enough, 
will  soon  be  too  small  for  them,  a  handful  of  believing 
Indians,  who  because  they  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  are 
despised,  of  whom  the  world  is  unworthy." 

"We  have  had  an  inkling  for  some  time  that  we 
must  soon  again  take  the  pilgrim's  staff,  after  dwelling 
here  for  four  years,"  he  writes  under  date  of  Wednes- 
day, January  12,  1791.  They  had  been  four  fruitful 
years  in  another  important  respect.  Zeisberger  found 
leisure  to  prepare  a  translation  into  the  Delaware  lan- 
guage of  the  "  Harmony  of  the  Four  Gospels,"  and  a 
hymn-book  in  the  same  language.  Time  for  the  estab- 
lishment and  conduct  of  schools  was  also  given,  and 
three  schools  were  kept  with  a  hundred  pupils,  chil- 
dren and  adults,  who  were  anxious  to  learn  to  read  and 
write. 

On  Sunday,  April  10,  1791,  the  day  before  the  sev- 
entieth anniversary  of  his  birth,  Zeisberger  preached  the 
farewell  sermon  preparatory  to  the  breaking  up  of  the 
settlement.  The  removal  began  next  day,  and  by 
Thursday,  the  I4th,  the  last  canoes  left,  carrying  with 
them  the  patriarchal  Zeisberger  and  the  rear-guard  of 
twenty  helpers. 

Again  did  the  hostilities  between  the  American 
Government  and  the  Indians  compel  the  sorely  dis- 
tressed Indian  church,  under  the  guidance  of  Zeisber- 
ger, to  seek  an  asylum  under  the  British  flag. 

Their  pilgrimage  led  them  to  a  temporary  halting- 
place  or  "  night-lodge  "  near  the  mouth  of  the  Detroit 
River,  on  the  Canada  side,  near  the  present  Amherst- 


52  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

burg,  where  they  established  themselves  for  one  year. 
In  May,  1792,  they  took  up  their  abode  in  Oxford 
township,  Canada  West,  on  the  River  Thames.  Here 
Zeisberger  founded  the  settlement  of  Fairfield,  upon  a 
tract  of  land  granted  them  by  the  British  Government, 
twelve  miles  long  and  six  miles  broad.  The  new  set- 
tlement soon  grew  to  be  a  flourishing  town  with  forty 
houses,  regularly  built,  a  church,  and  parsonages  for 
Zeisberger  and  his  fellow -laborers,  Brother  and  Sister 
Gottlob  Senseman,  and  the  Brethren  Edwards  and  Jung. 
Here  he  labored  in  the  gospel  for  six  years  among  his 
beloved  "  brown  brethren,"  until  August,  1798.  In 
that  year  the  Mission  Board  commissioned  Hecke- 
welder  and  Edwards  to  lead  a  colony  of  converts  back 
to  the  Tuscarawas  Valley,  where  a  new  Indian  settle- 
ment, named  Goshen,  was  founded.  Hither  the  vener- 
able and  apostolic  Zeisberger  was  called  to  spend  the 
last  years  of  his  long  life  of  labor  for  the  salvation  of 
the  red  man.  Here  at  Goshen,  on  November  17,  1808, 
he  entered  on  his  eternal  rest,  in  his  88th  year. 

John  Heckewelder,  next  to  Zeisberger  the  most  il- 
lustrious name  in  the  annals  of  Moravian  missionary 
labor  among  the  Indians,  gives  us  this  picture  of  one 
with  whom  he  was  associated  in  these  labors  for 
many  years,  and  whom  he  loved  as"  Brother  David." 

"  Zeisberger  was  endowed  with  a  good  understand- 
ing and  a  sound  judgment ;  a  friend  and  benefactor  to 
all  men,  and  justly  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him,  with 
perhaps  the  exception  of  those  who  were  enemies  of 
the  gospel  which  he  preached. 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  53 

"  As  the  result  of  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  his 
life,  we  note  his  reticence.  He  undertook  many  soli- 
tary journeys,  and  in  the  first  half  of  his  life  he  lived  at 
places  where  there  either  was  no  society  or  such  as  was 
not  congenial.  Hence  he  withdrew  within  himself  and 
lived  in  close  communion  with  his  unseen  but  ever- 
present  heavenly  Friend. 

"  In  the  formation  of  his  judgments  he  was  very 
thorough,  not  impulsive.  He  did  not  suffer  himself  to 
be  carried  away  by  outside  influences.  He  gave  ex- 
pression to  his  opinion  only  after  he  had  come  to  a 
positive  and  settled  conclusion  in  his  own  mind. 
Experience  usually  proved  the  correctness  of  his 
judgment.  To  this  his  fellow-missionaries  all  bear 
witness. 

"  Receiving  as  it  were  a  glimpse  of  the  future 
through  the  deep  thoughts  and  silent  prayers  in  which 
he  was  engaged,  he  stood  up,  on  most  occasions,  full 
of  confidence  and  knew  no  fear.  Amid  distressing  and 
perilous  circumstances  his  fellow-missionaries  and  his 
Indian  converts  invariably  looked  to  him.  His  cour- 
age, his  fearless  readiness  to  act,  his  comforting  words, 
cheered  them  all. 

"  Brother  Zeisberger  would  never  consent  to  have 
his  name  put  down  on  a  salary-list,  or  become  a  '  hire- 
ling,' as  he  termed  it.  He  said  that  although  a  salary 
might  be  both  agreeable  and  proper  for  some  missiona- 
ries, yet  in  his  case  it  would  neither  be  the  one  nor  the 
other;  that  he  had  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of 
the  Lord  among  the  heathen  without  any  view  of  a 


54  DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

reward  other  than  such  as  his  Lord  and  Master  might 
deign  to  bestow  upon  him." 

Benjamin  Mortimer,  his  youthful  associate  in  the 
last  years  of  his  service,  says :  "  Father  Zeisberger  was 
fully  persuaded  that  from  his  earliest  youth  God  had 
called  him  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  heathen.  In  this 
assurance  he  gave  up  all  the  vanities  of  a  worldly  life, 
the  comfort  and  ease  so  highly  esteemed  among  men, 
and  took  up  his  life-work  in  the  assured  faith  that  the 
Lord  would  grant  his  blessing  and  help.  With  joy- 
ousness  of  spirit  he  stood  up  courageously  in  the  face 
of  reproach  and  scorn,  persecutions  and  threatenings ; 
he  gladly  took  up  his  daily  task,  enduring  hunger  and 
varied  perils,  assured  of  victory  over  every  foe,  in  the 
attainment  of  his  one  great  object,  the  winning  of  souls 
from  Ijeathendom  for  Christ.  Great  were  his  zeal  and 
his  perseverance  in  all  the  long  years  of  his  faithful 
service. 

"  He  was  never  happier  than  when  assured  that  the 
souls  to  whom  he  preached  the  gospel  had  sought  and 
found  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins  and  could  rejoice  in 
Jesus  as  their  Saviour.  To  win  one  soul  for  Christ, 
and  help  it  to  come  into  the  blessed  experience  of  par- 
don, was  more  to  him  than  to  have  gained  the  whole 
world.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  adequately  the  joy 
he  always  manifested  when  some  wandering  sinner 
would  return  in  penitence  and  find  his  way  back  again 
to  the  fold  of  the  Shepherd. 

"  His  record  of  missionary  service  among  the  Indians 
in  the  eighteenth  century  is  unequalled.  For  sixty  years, 


AND   HIS   BROWN    BRETHREN.  55 

amid  many  and  varied  trials,  he  preached  the  gospel 
among  them.  During  the  last  forty  of  these  years  he 
was  not  absent  from  his  post,  at  any  one  time,  for  a 
period  of  six  months.  Only  three  times  in  the  same 
period  was  he  a  visitor  in  the  home  churches.  The 
last  visit  of  this  sort  he  made  almost  thirty  years  before 
his  death. 

"  With  his  boldness  in  God,  and  fearlessness  in  the 
face  of  the  greatest  perils,  he  combined  to  a  rare  degree 
meekness  of  spirit  and  a  lowly  mind.  He  was  a  trans- 
parently unselfish  man,  who  never  thought  highly  of 
himself.  He  was  a  prudent  man,  who,  although  con- 
stantly exposed  upon  his  incessant  journeyings  and 
wanderings  in  the  wilderness,  never  sacrificed  his 
health  needlessly.  He  never  used  intoxicating  liquors 
as  a  beverage. 

"  In  all  the  work  of  his  ministry  he  never  lost  sight 
of  the  fact  that  he  was  contending  with  the  prince  oi 
the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  worketh  in  the 
children  of  disobedience,  but  he  ever  remembered  that 
he  had  God  on  his  side  to  secure  to  him  the  victory. 
And  indeed  he  did  overcome  Satan  by  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb  and  by  the  word  of  his  testimony,  and  loved 
not  his  life  unto  death." 

A  few  days  before  his  departure,  as  he  lay  upon  his 
dying  bed,  the  saintly  man  gave  this  testimony :  "  As 
my  weakness  is  continually  increasing,  I  believe  that 
the  Saviour  intends  to  take  me  to  himself.  During  the 
many  sleepless  hours  of  the  past  days  and  nights,  I 
have  been  going  over  all  my  past  life,  with  the  Saviour, 


56  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

and  have  found  so  much  occasion  to  ask  his  forgive- 
ness that  nothing  else  was  left  me.  I  know  I  am  his. 
I  trust  in  his  blood,  which  covers  all  my  sins.  He  is 
mine.  His  meritorious  sacrifice  avails  for  me. 

"  Some  of  our  brethren  and  sisters  depart  with  great 
joyousness  of  heart.  This  is  not  so  in  my  case.  I  can 
only  depart  as  a  poor  sinner.  God  will  take  unto  him- 
self my  spirit.  This  I  know.  The  sinful  part  I  leave 
behind." 

This  was  modestly  spoken,  but  with  greatest  assur- 
ance of  faith  in  the  Lord  his  Redeemer. 

In  the  library  of  Harvard  University,  in  a  case  pro- 
vided for  this  special  purpose  by  the  donor,  Edward 
Everett,  under  lock  and  key,  are  preserved  fourteen 
Zeisberger  manuscripts,  including  a  dictionary  of  the 
Delaware  Indian  language,  a  grammar,  a  "  Harmony 
of  the  Four  Gospels,"  a  hymn  book,  a  volume  of 
Litanies  and  Liturgies,  of  sermons  to  children,  all  in  the 
Delaware  Indian  language.  Other  manuscripts  are  de- 
posited in  the  library  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society  in  Philadelphia,  the  property  of  the  American 
Moravian  Church,  whose  own  archives  contain  many 
more  equally  valuable  manuscripts  and  records  of  the 
labors  of  Zeisberger.  These  literary  remains  are  an 
illustrious  memorial  of  the  patient  scholarship  of  the 
man  who  forgot  self  in  his  indefatigable  service  of  the 
despised  American  Indian. 

But  more  glorious  and  imperishable  memorials  of 
the  endurance  and  unswerving  devotion  of  David  Zeis- 
berger to  his  call  as  a  herald  of  the  Saviour's  cross  to 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  57 

the  Indians  of  America  are  garnered  in  the  upper 
sanctuary — the  host  of  precious  souls  that  he  was  per- 
mitted to  lead  out  of  the  darkness  of  heathendom  into 
the  light  of  salvation  through  Christ. 

Side  by  side  in  the  old  Goshen  graveyard  rest  the 
bodies  of  the  brother  missionaries,  Zeisberger  and  Ed- 
wards. A  granite  block  marks  each  grave  within  the 
enclosure. 

Edwards  died  in  1801.  It  was  on  Sunday,  Novem- 
ber 20,  1808,  when  they  laid  the  body  of  Zeisberger  to 
its  grave-rest  amid  the  scenes  of  his  greatest  triumphs 
and  sorest  trials. 

On  the  granite  block  which  marks  his  grave  is  a 
plain  white  marble  slab,  the  simple  inscription  upon 
which  tells  the  story  of  Zeisberger's  heroic  devotion : 

DAVID  ZEISBERGER, 

BORN  APRIL    II,    1721,     IN    MORAVIA; 

DEPARTED    THIS    LIFE    NOVEMBER    17,    l8o8  ; 

AGED    87    YEARS,     7    MONTHS,    6    DAYS. 

THIS    FAITHFUL   SERVANT    OF   THE    LORD    LABORED 
AMONG   THE    AMERICAN    INDIANS    AS    A   MIS- 
SIONARY  DURING   THE   LAST   SIXTY 
YEARS   OF   HIS   LIFE. 


58  DAVID   ZE1SBERGER 


THE  MARTYRS  MASSACRED  ON  FRIDAY 
MORNING,  MARCH  g  ,  1782. 

"  The  annals  of  the  Moravian  Church  link  in  the  same  chain  of 
sorrows  and  calamities  the  burning  of  John  Hus  at  Constance  (1415) 
and  the  murder  of  the  hapless  Christian  Indians  at  Gradenhutten  on 
the  Muskingum." — W.  D.  HOWELLS  in  "Three  Villages." 

THE  names  of  the  men,  women,  and  children  who 
met  death  as  Christian  martyrs,  on  the  spot  marked 
by  the  monument,  are  preserved  in  the  record  of 
baptisms  in  the  archives  of  the  Moravian  Brethren's 
Church. 

Five  of  the  men  were  Elders  of  the  congregation. 
The  most  prominent  of  the  Elders  was  Isaac  Glikki- 
kan  (v.  pp.  33,  34).  Since  his  conversion  in  1770, 
during  the  revival  that  winter  on  the  Beaver  River 
in  Lawrence  County,  Pennsylvania,  he  had  approved 
himself  a  church  member  conspicuous  for  fidelity  and 
prudence.  In  time  of  danger  he  had  always  been 
ready  and  fearless  in  his  devotion  to  the  Missionaries, 
in  whose  defence  he  was  ever  ready  to  lay  down  his 
life,  if  necessary.  After  twelve  years  of  steadfast 
discipleship  he  sealed  his  faith  in  Jesus  as  a  member 
of  this  Church  in  the  wilderness,  with  a  martyr's 
glorious  death,  at  the  massacre.  Samuel  Moore  was 
another  Elder.  He  had  been  a  member,  in  his 
youth,  of  the  Missionary  David  Brainerd's  congre- 
gation in  New  Jersey.  After  Brainerd's  death  he 
joined  our  Moravian  Indian  congregation  at  Friedens- 
hiitten  on  the  Susquehanna.  Samuel  received  his 
education  from  Brainerd.  He  could  read  and  under- 
stand the  English  language  so  well  that  for  many 
years  he  was  our  interpreter  of  the  sermons  preached. 
Tobias,  another  former  member  of  Brainerd's  Indian 
congregation,  and  Jonas  were  both  Elders,  who  lived 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  59 

most  consistent  Christian  lives.  Another  Elder  and 
interpreter  was  John  Martin.  He  was  always  marked 
for  his  exemplary  conduct  as  a  true  disciple  of  Jesus. 
He  and  his  two  sons,  Paul,  a  young  man,  and  An- 
thony, a  meie  lad,  died  as  martyrs  at  the  massacre. 
Two  of  these  Elders  were  fifty  years  old;  the  other 
three  Elders  were  over  sixty  years  of  age. 

Many  of  the  massacred  brethren  and  sisters  were 
the  children  of  Christian  parents  who  had  been  con- 
verts of  the  Moravian  Indian  congregation  in  Penn- 
sylvania in  1763  and  1764  and  earlier.  Children 
and  grandchildren,  born  in  Ohio,  died  the  death  of 
martyrdom.  Heckewelder  adds:  "The  loving  chil- 
dren! who  had  so  harmoniously  raised  their  voices 
in  the  church,  at  school,  and  in  their  parents'  houses 
in  singing  praises  to  the  Saviour.  Their  tender 
years,  innocent  countenances,  and  tears  made  no 
impression  on  these  white  Christians.  The  children 
(together  with  twelve  babes  at  the  breast)  were  all 
butchered  with  the  rest." 

The  roll  of  the  names  of  the  martyrs:  Isaac  Glik- 
kikan  and  his  wife  Anna  Benigna;  Jonas  and  his  wife 
Amelia;  Samuel  Moore;  Tobias;  John  Martin  and 
his  sons,  Paul  and  Anthony;  Christian  and  his  wife 
Augustina;  Adam  and  his  wife  Cornelia;  Henry,  his 
wife  Joanna  Salome,  and  their  two  sons,  mere  lads, 
Benjamin  and  Gottlieb;  Luke  and  his  wife  Lucia; 
Philip,  his  wife  Lorel,  and  their  little  daughter  Sarah; 
Lewis  and  his  wife  Ruth;  Nicholas  and  his  wife  Jo- 
anna Sabina;  Israel,  a  former  war-captain;  Abra- 
ham, the  aged  Mohican,  the  first  one  of  the  brethren 
to  be  massacred;  Joseph  Sheborsh,  son  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Sheborsh,  a  white  man;  Mark  and  his  little 
daughter  Maria  Elizabeth;  Hannah,  wife  of  Joseph; 
Judith,  an  aged  widow,  the  first  one  of  the  sisters 
led  forth  to  be  massacred;  the  venerable  Christiana, 
a  woman  of  refinement,  educated  at  Bethlehem,  Pa., 
who  spoke  English  and  German  fluently;  John; 


60  DAVID  ZEISBERGER 

Mary  and  her  little  daughter  Hannah;  Abel,  who 
survived  his  scalping  and  was  killed  when  trying  to 
escape;  Henry;  John;  Michael;  Peter;  Gottlob; 
David;  Rebecca;  Rachel;  Maria  Susanna;  Anna 
and  Bathsheba,  aged  respectively  fifteen  and  eighteen 
(daughters  of  the  Elder  Joshua,  the  Mohican,  who 
brought  the  first  news  of  the  massacre  to  Captives' 
Town,  to  Zeisberger  and  Heckewelder) ;  Julianna; 
Elizabeth;  Martha;  AnnaRosina;  Salome. 

The  names  of  the  other  boys  and  girls  who  have  a 
place  on  this  roll  are:  Christiana;  Leah;  Benigna; 
Christine;  Gertrude;  Anna  Christina;  Anna  Salome; 
Joseph;  Christian;  Mark;  Jonathan;  Christian 
Gottlieb;  Jonah;  Timothy.  Five  or  six  unbaptized 
adult  Indians  also  met  death  in  the  massacre. 

Two  lads,  Thomas  and  Jacob,  got  away.  They 
were  scalped  with  the  rest  of  the  men  and  boys,  but 
not  killed.  Thomas  revived  toward  evening.  So 
did  Abel,  who  was  in  the  act  of  getting  up  when  a 
militiaman  happened  to  come  into  the  cooper-shop 
to  look  at  the  bodies  of  the  massacred.  Spying  Abel, 
as  he  lifted  up  his  scalpless  head,  the  militiaman  des- 
patched him.  Thomas  kept  still  until  it  grew  dark. 
Then  he  crept  from  out  the  mass  of  dead  bodies, 
and  escaped  to  the  woods.  The  other  lad,  Jacob, 
although  scalped,  had  strength  enough  left  to  slip 
through  a  trap-door  into  the  cellar  of  the  slaughter- 
house. Here  the  blood  of  the  massacred  streamed 
upon  him  through  the  floor.  He  squeezed  through 
a  narrow  cellar-window  and  hid  himself  in  the  near 
hazel-bushes  until  nightfall.  In  the  darkness  he, 
too,  escaped  to  the  woods. 

The  two  sons  of  John  Martin,  Paul  and  Anthony, 
managed  to  get  out  of  the  house,  but  they  were  shot 
down  and  scalped  by  the  sentinels. 

The  men  from  the  Pennsylvania  border  who  mas- 
sacred these  people  made  their  appearance  at  Gna- 
denhiitten  on  March  7,  1782,  the  day  our  Christian 


AND  HIS  BROWN  BRETHREN.  6l 

Indians  were  bundling  up  their  packs  intending  to 
set  off  the  next  morning  on  their  five  or  six  days' 
journey  westward  to  Captives'  Town.  The  brethren 
and  sisters,  with  the  young  people  and  the  children, 
were  in  the  river-bottom  opposite  the  town  on  this 
(the  eastern)  side  of  the  Tuscarawas  [Muskingum] 
River,  gathering  and  husking  the  corn,  left  unhar- 
vested  since  the  previous  September,  when  they  and 
the  missionaries  were  led  away  into  the  barren  wilder- 
ness in  what  is  now  Wyandot  County.  During  the  in- 
tervening months  of  the  fall  and  winter  they  had  al- 
most perished  from  starvation.  Many  of  the  infant 
children  had  died.  In  her  autobiography  Sister  Zeis- 
berger  writes  of  this  terrible  winter:  "Many  a  time 
the  Indian  sisters  shared  their  last  morsel  with  me. 
Frequently  for  eight  days  in  succession  I  had  no  food 
of  my  own."  Heckewelder  writes  of  this  winter: 
"In  this  wretched  situation  the  hungry  (heathen) 
Indians — the  Wyandots — would  often  come  into  our 
cabins  and  look  if  there  were  any  victuals  cooking  or 
nearly  cooked.  One  day  just  as  my  wife  had  set 
down  what  was  intended  for  our  dinner,  the  Half- 
King  and  Simon  Girty  and  a  Wyandot  entered  and, 
seeing  the  victuals  ready,  without  ceremony  began 
eating." 

When  our  brethren  heard  of  the  unharvested  corn 
standing  unhurt  and  still  good  in  the  bottoms  here 
at  Gnadenhtitten,  a  company  of  men,  women,  and 
children  set  out  on  the  five  or  six  days'  journey 
through  the  trackless  forests,  which  brought  them  to 
their  old  home  on  the  river  bank.  They  worked 
day  and  night  gathering  the  golden  ears.  They  had 
been  here  for  some  weeks,  when  suddenly  the  militia- 
men from  Pittsburgh  and  its  vicinage  came  upon 
the  harvesters. 

They  greeted  our  brethren  as  friends  and  ex- 
pressed their  sympathy  and  warmest  admiration  for 
them  as  converts  to  the  common  Christian  faith. 


62  DAVID   ZEISBERGER 

They  said:  "We  have  come  to  remove  you  to  a  haven 
of  safety  from  the  murderous  heathen  Indians  on  the 
war-path.  We  will  take  you  to  Pittsburgh."  The 
brethren  readily  believed  these  protestations  of 
friendly  interest,  because  they  had  met  many  of  these 
bordermen  in  neighborly  intercourse  in  the  streets 
of  Pittsburgh.  To  the  suggestion  that  they  give  up 
their  guns  and  knives  to  the  militiamen  they  gave 
instant  and  cordial  assent. 

As  soon  as  our  brethren  had  thus  been  rendered 
defenseless,  the  friendship  of  the  white  Christian 
was  changed,  with  bewildering  suddenness,  into  the 
merciless  cruelty  of  enemies  thirsting  for  the  blood  of 
their  victims.  They  bound  our  brethren  as  captives, 
and  thus  brought  them  across  the  river  and  impris- 
oned them  in  some  of  the  houses  still  standing. 

A  council  of  war  was  held  to  decide  what  to  do  with 
the  imprisoned  men,  women,  and  children.  "Shall 
we  carry  them  to  Pittsburg  or  shall  we  put  them  to 
death?  "  The  men  were  drawn  up  in  line  to  give 
their  decision.  Any  one  in  favor  of  carrying  the 
captives  to  Pittsburgh  was  commanded  to  step  one 
step  forward.  Only  eighteen  men  of  the  almost  two 
hundred  stepped  forward.  The  question  yet  to  be 
decided  was  how  to  carry  out  this  murderous  intent: 
whether  they  should  burn  our  brethren  alive  by  set- 
ting fire  to  the  houses  in  which  they  were  imprisoned, 
or  tomahawk  and  scalp  them.  The  latter  method 
would  furnish  these  white  Christians  with  the  trophies 
of  the  scalps  of  these  brown  Christian  men,  women, 
and  children.  This  consideration  made  them  decide 
for  the  latter  method  of  massacre. 

The  original  plan  was  to  proceed  to  massacre  the 
captives  at  once.  But  as  they  were  Christians  their 
plea  for  a  night-time  of  preparation  for  death  was 
granted  them. 

On  recovering  from  the  first  terrible  shock  of  the 
announced  massacre,  our  brethren  and  sisters,  con- 


AND   HIS   BROWN   BRETHREN.  63 

scions  of  their  innocence  of  the  cruel  accusations  of 
their  enemies,  stood  unshaken  in  their  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  when  thus  brought  face  to  face  with  death. 
Led  by  their  Elders,  they  spent  the  hours  of  their  last 
night  on  earth  in  prayer  and  praise.  They  made 
confession  of  their  sins,  asked  forgiveness  of  one 
another,  and  exhorted  one  another  to  glorify  their 
Redeemer's  name  by  a  faithful  and  loving  endur- 
ance to  the  end.  Old  Abraham,  the  Mohican  (whose 
flowing  white  hair  caused  him  to  be  marked  out  in 
the  early  morning  as  the  first  one  of  the  brethren  to 
be  butchered,  because  it  would  make  so  fine  a  scalp- 
trophy)  rose  up  early  in  the  night  to  make  humble 
confession  as  a  backslider:  "Dear  brethren,  you  well 
know  that  I  have  been  a  bad  man;  that  I  have 
grieved  the  Lord;  that  I  have  caused  our  teachers 
much  sorrow;  and  that  I  have  not  done  the  things 
that  I  ought  to  have  done.  But  now  I  give  myself 
anew  to  Jesus,  and  I  will  hold  fast  to  Him  as  long 
as  I  live." 

Until  the  morning's  early  dawn  they  continued  in 
fervent  supplication  and  joyous  praises  unto  God 
their  Saviour.  They  felt  the  peace  of  God.  They 
were  filled  with  cheerful  resignation  to  their  impend- 
ing fate.  To  the  inquiry  of  the  white  Christian  mur- 
derers, at  early  dawn,  whether  they  were  ready,  our 
brethren  and  sisters  gave  ready  reply:  "We  are 
ready.  Jesus,  to  whom  we  have  committed  our 
souls,  gives  us  the  assurance  that  He  will  receive  us." 

The  massacre  at  once  began.  Two  houses  had 
been  selected  as  "slaughter-houses,"  one  for  the 
killing  of  the  brethren  and  one  for  the  killing  of  the 
sisters  and  the  children.  The  victims  were  led  forth, 
two  at  a  time,  bound,  into  the  houses.  The  cooper- 
shop  was  the  slaughter-house  for  the  brethren  and 
the  boys.  The  man  who  led  off  in  the  butcher- 
ing of  the  brethren  took  up  a  convenient  cooper's 
mallet,  saying,  as  he  handled  it,  "This  exactly  suits 


64  DAVID  ZEISBERGER. 

the  business  in  hand!  "  Beginning  with  the  vener- 
able Abraham,  whom  he  killed  with  blows  from  the 
mallet,  he  kept  on  despatching  one  victim  after  an- 
other until  fourteen  lay  dead  and  scalped  before  him. 
Handing  the  mallet  to  his  comrades,  he  said:  "You 
take  it;  I  guess  I've  done  pretty  well;  but  my  arm 
gives  out!  "  Thus  all  the  brethren  and  boys  were 
massacred. 

In  like  manner  the  sisters  and  children  were 
brought  out,  two  and  two,  and  massacred  in  the 
slaughter-house  for  the  women  and  little  ones. 
When  the  massacre  was  completed,  they  set  fire  to 
the  two  slaughter-houses  in  which  the  mangled 
bodies  of  their  brown  fellow  Christians  lay,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  collect  the  plunder  previous  to  their 
departure.  Besides  the  bloody  trophies  of  almost 
one  hundred  scalps,  they  carried  with  them  to  Pitts- 
burgh about  fifty  horses,  many  blankets,  and  other 
articles  of  plunder. 

A  grassy  mound  marks  the  spot  where  loving 
hands  gathered  up  the  bleached  bones  of  our  mar- 
tyred brethren,  some  seventeen  years  later,  and  laid 
them  to  an  honored  grave-rest.  The  near-by  monu- 
ment, erected  in  1872,  marks  the  spot  of  their  Chris- 
tian martyrdom.  On  it  are  inscribed  these  words  of 
light  and  peace : 

HERE  TRIUMPHED  IN  DEATH 

OVER  NINETY  CHRISTIAN  INDIANS 

MARCH  g  ,  1782. 

"  A  noble  band  of  men  and  boys,  They  climbed    the  steep    ascent  of 

The  matron  and  the  maid,  heaven 

Around    the     Saviour's    throne  Through  peril,  toil,  and  pain; 

rejoice  O  God,  to  us  may  grace  be  given 

In  robes  of  light  arrayed.  To  follow  in  their  train." 


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